Everton FC
Tottenham Hotspur FC
Tottenham Hotspur FC
Struggling sides Everton and Tottenham face must-win fixture to keep top four hopes alive
Tottenham to win 2-1
The past month or so has been a tough period for both sets of supporters, with Everton and Tottenham doing little to improve their chances of securing a top four finish this season.
Everton’s form has fallen off a cliff recently, and are without a win from any of their last four fixtures. Their goal scoring has dried up during that period too, with only two goals going in their favour.
Up until now, Carlo Ancelotti will have been pleased with his team’s performance over the season, but risk undoing much of the good work up until now unless they can reverse this recent form.
Spurs have one victory from their previous four matches, with defeats to Arsenal and Manchester United added to a disappointing draw against Newcastle. Add that to a shocking defeat in the Europa League, and it’s not been happy viewing for fans recently.
Both teams must win here.
Form Guide (all comps): LLLDD
Reasons to be cheerful:
Beat Spurs earlier in the season
Injury concerns could be eased with players returning here
Reasons to be fearful:
Just two goals scored from their last four games
Have lost seven of their 15 home matches this season
Like many sides have experienced in this strange season, Everton’s home form has not been what they would have expected.
The Toffees have been defeated in almost half of their games at Goodison Park this campaign, with the majority of their points picked up on their travels.
That said, they’ve had some impressive results against fellow big sides this season – earning draws against the likes of Leicester and Manchester United, while going that step further and beating Liverpool and Chelsea, as well as this weekend’s opponents Spurs.
They also have the luxury of being able to welcome back several first team stars from injury, with the likes of Pickford, Calvert-Lewin, Allan and Andre Gomes all likely to play some part.
Their focus must be on scoring goals. They will have seen Tottenham lose to Manchester United and think, we’ve got a chance here.
Star Man – Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Everton’s top scorer netted in the win over Spurs at the start of the season and was missed against Brighton at the weekend.
Form Guide (all comps): LLWDL
Reasons to be cheerful:
Must improve after their defeat against Manchester United
Have a very winnable fixture schedule coming up
Reasons to be fearful:
Poor form has seen them fall behind top four race
Everton have been them twice already this season
Despite being just a single point closer to the top four than their opponents, Spurs will take some confidence from the fact that their next five fixtures are much kinder than their previous couple.
Games against Southampton, Sheffield United, Leeds, Wolves and Aston Villa are all matches that they would be expected to claim three points against, without any disrespect to their opponents. With a six-point gap to West Ham in 4th place, you’d argue that they need to win them all.
At the weekend against Manchester United, they took the lead before eventually losing 3-1, and never really looked as though they would win the game with their negative style of play.
They must return to playing positive football, and with Everton struggling to score many goals right now, have a real opportunity to power past them.
Star Man – Harry Kane
Has 10 goals from his 12 games against Everton, making them one of his favourite opponents.
Possession will be evenly shared
Either Calvert-Lewin or Kane to score
Spurs are slight favourites
In a must-win game, teams can either come out afraid to lose or desperate to claim victory.
For the fans, we hope it is the latter, where the game is littered with plenty of goals and fast-flowing football. It doesn’t always turn out that way, especially with Mourinho as one of the managers, though it should at least be an interesting game.
Spurs have the slight edge in terms of form and quality players up front.
Tottenham to win 2-1
