Everton vs Bournemouth: Preview and Prediction

Under pressure Roberto Martinez needs a win when he leads Everton to face Bournemouth in the match day 36 of the English Premier League on Saturday evening.

The Goodison Park faithful witnessed their side stumble to another defeat at home in the FA cup semifinal against Manchester United. This marked their seventh match without a win across all competitions and the boardroom at Everton are busy discussing the future of Roberto Martinez. The Blues are currently 11th in the league table with 41 points and are likely to sink further if they do not start winning matches right now.

The Eddie Howe led Bournemouth side had done an excellent job in their debut season in England’s top flight and are currently 14th in the league table, level on points with Everton at 41 points. They will be hoping to avoid a defeat and thus move about Everton in the standings.

Form Comparison

• Everton have failed to win their last 7 matches in the English Premier League, with 4 losses and 3 draws.
• Everton scored just 2 goals in their last 6 league matches and conceded 9 in return.
• At home, Everton lost 3 of their last 4 matches and have just one win to show from their last 10; with 6 losses and 3 draws.
• Three of the last four home matches of Everton have seen under 2.5 goals.
• Bournemouth have lost two matches in a row, 1-2 to Liverpool followed by 1-4 to Chelsea.
• The Cherries lost 4 of their last 5 games, with a 2-1 away win at Aston Villa sandwiched between them.
• Bournemouth have lost just once in their last 7 away matches in the Premier League, with 3 wins and 3 draws.

Everton: Team News

Funes Mori will be serving the second of his three match ban and Roberto Martinez has a crisis in defense as Phil Jagielka and Seamus Coleman are both out with injury. A rare start for 35 year old Tony Hibbert is expected here until unless Martinez decided to look into the reserve squad for replacements.

Everton: Predicted Starting Eleven (4-2-3-1)

Robles,
Baines, Hibbert, Stones, Besic,
Barry, McCarthy,
Cleverley, Barkley, Deulofeu,
Lukaku.

Bournemouth: Team News

Max Gradel remains a doubt for Eddie Howe after failing the fitness test, while Adam Smith, Harry Arter and Tyrone Mings are out injured.

Both Benik Afobe and Callum Wilson could start here after making their return from injury in the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea last weekend.

Bournemouth: Predicted Starting Eleven (4-4-2)

Boruc,
Daniels, Cook, Elphick, Francis,
Pugh, Surman, Gosling, Ritchie,
Wilson, Afobe.

Everton vs Bournemouth: Head-to-Head Stats

Everton had played against Bournemouth on two occasions this season already and they are unbeaten with a win and draw.

Their meeting in the first leg of this season’s Premier League which ended in a 3-3 draw at Vitality Stadium on November 2015.

The teams then met again at the same venue on February 2016 for the FA Cup fixture, which was won 2-0 by Everton.

Everton vs Bournemouth: Prediction

The pressure is immense on Everton boss Roberto Matinez and Everton must win this game to keep their hopes of finishing in the top half of the table. They are terrible at home this season and managed just 4 wins from 16 matches in the league so far.

Bournemouth on the other hand, will be very relaxed and will be coming here on good confidence. They tasted defeat in their last two Premier League games, but those were against stronger teams in the league, Chelsea and Liverpool. The Cherries must be considered as a side capable of upsetting the odds and this is evident from their recent away record – 3 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw.

I predict a draw from this match, but if anyone is going to win on Saturday evening it will be Bournemouth.