Saturday 7th January 2016 Kickoff: 1500hrs
Everton v Leicester City
Football – England – FA Cup
Another all-Premier League tie takes place at Goodison Park on Saturday with Everton and Leicester squaring off for a place in the fourth round. Everton have enjoyed a very good festive period so will be much more confident coming into this than they would had it been played a month ago whilst Leicester will be buoyed by taking four points from their last two games and keeping their first domestic clean sheets since September in the process. The two clashed as recently as Boxing Day so will be well acquainted with each other to make for an intriguing game.
There was a lot of despondency around Goodison after Liverpool edged the derby six days before Christmas. It was a loss that meant they won just two of 12 in the league and there were doubts beginning to surface around Ronald Koeman’s suitability for the job. A fortnight is a long time in football, however, and since that loss Everton have taken seven points from their next three games including a 2-1 win away to Leicester. There will be a touch of disappointment that it was not three wins from as many games with the dropped points coming in a draw against Hull City. Nevertheless, the Toffees have climbed to seventh spot in the table but that looks likely to be their ceiling as they are nine points adrift of Manchester United in sixth. Due to that, it’s expected that Koeman will target the FA Cup as a possible route of success, particularly as their last trophy was this competition back in 1995.
Few expected Leicester to match their achievements from last season such was height of it, but fewer expected them to mount such a poor defence of it. After 20 league games the Foxes sit in 15th spot and only six points above the bottom three. It would still be a major surprise if they were to be dragged further into the dogfight but as was evidenced with their display in the last half hour against Middlesbrough when seemingly happy with the point, Claudio Ranieri is obviously concerned and happy to take all the points he can get at this point in time. How much priority he will give to the FA Cup – especially as they also have a last 16 tie in the Champions League to contend with – is questionable with so much importance in guaranteeing their Premier League status. The Italian may well use Saturday’s game to rotate his squad and give some fringe players an opportunity.
Everton v Leicester City Betting Tips
Although Everton have not been as consistent as they would have liked in the first half of the season, the defeat to Liverpool remains their only defeat at Goodison Park in the league thus far. Leicester, on the other hand, have found wins on the road hard to come by, infact, their away form has been terrible. Their 10 games on their travels in the league have yielded just three points and all of those have came in the shape of draws. Using statistics from league games for a cup match is often not advised but considering these two are established Premier League sides there is more substance to it than normal. With those trends in mind I think Everton rate a solid bet to progress and feel they will target this game with more importance than the visitors.
