England Premier League
Saturday 21st December 2019
Kick off at 12:30pm GMT
Venue: Goodison Park
Match Preview:
Everton and Arsenal have seen a lot of change this season. For Everton Marco Silva was sacked and for Arsenal Unai Emery was given his marching orders. For these clubs who traditionally used to hang on to managers for some time it is another reminder of how difficult it has become to remain in your job if you have a few bad months form.
Everton are still without a permanent manager, instead they have their cult hero Duncan Ferguson in charge as caretaker and under his passion and enthusiasm Everton have been refreshing and at times brilliant. Witness the clubs 3-1 win over Chelsea and going to Old Trafford to face the in form Man Utd and coming away with a point.
True the club were knocked out of the Carabao Cup against Leicester but even then a fighting spirit was shown in midweek. At 2-0 down Everton fought back for 2-2 in the final minutes but were thwarted in the penalty shoot out. One has to question if the competition had not taken extra time away if Everton could have gone on to win the match?
Form has improved but the club are still in danger in 16th place and really need three points at the weekend. Carlo Ancelotti has been rumoured as the clubs next manager and that would be massive for them, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Over to Arsenal who have been a disaster this season. If you thought Emery had been bad then Freddie Ljungberg the caretaker manager was no better. In has come Mikel Arteta and it is interesting how football throws stories up given that Arteta both played for Everton and Arsenal.
Arteta has zero experience first team managing then again Ferguson has only a few games. The difference though is that Arteta has been under the wing and guidance of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City for the past three seasons, that could count hugely and it is a gamble that Arsenal are willing to take.
The Gunners are in 10th place and have just 1 win in their past five games. Their last match was a 3-0 defeat ironically against City with Arteta sitting in the opposite dugout. Now he is here to help them. Arsenal have won just 2 games away from home but they have gone their last two matches on the road undefeated.
Team News:
Everton: Fabian Delph could be in line to return for this game. Djibril Sidibe could be back after illness as to could Gylfi Sigurdsson with the same problem. Theo Walcott has a calf injury and won’t return until next month
Arsenal: Hector Bellerin will be assessed ahead of the game after recovering from his hamstring injury. Rob Holding could be back after his knee injury. Sead Kolasinac is ruled out until January with an ankle injury. Sokratis is banned for 1 game and misses this one. Mesut Ozil is a doubt with a foot injury
Everton vs Arsenal Head to Head:
Last season Everton won this fixture 1-0.
Everton have only won the last 3 meetings from 10 at home to Arsenal.
Arsenal have scored 12 goals in the last four games against Everton.
There is a 60% chance to see both teams to score.
Everton vs Arsenal Prediction:
What exactly will the Mikel Arteta effect be like? Even if he is a success his new job should have zero influence on this game, being in charge for less than 24 hours and could only be watching from the stands. Can Everton bounce back from going out of the Carabao Cup? In truth with the problems that both sides have had one feels like this could end up being a draw. It does feel that the game will be a close affair and that is why one of our choices here will be to see more goals in the 2nd half. It should be an entertaining game and Everton will have ex Arsenal player Alex Iwobi facing his old club for the first time since he switched. There is a belief in this Everton side that they can win this game, but Arsenal shouldn’t be taken lightly even if they have been very average by their standards this season.
Everton vs Arsenal Betting Tips:
Half Time: A draw at 2.25 (5/4)
Highest Scoring Half: 2nd half at 1.91
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