Everton V Birmingham City: Birmingham to get too sticky with Toffee’s…

FA Cup & League Cup Tips

 

Everton V Birmingham City English FA Cup

 

Saturday, 23rd January – 15:00 GMT

 

Matt’s Tip: Everton to WIN – 1.83 totesport

Alternative: Landon Donovan Anytime Scorer – 4.00 Coral

 

 

I believe the price on Everton (1.83 with totesport) is far too appealing to turn down despite this rich vein of form Birmingham are in. If this was the very first game of the season then Everton would have been about a ½ (1.50) shot, which just goes to highlight the gulf in class still between the two sides, but of course, Birmingham’s unbeaten run of twelve games in the league, in combination with their success in the previous round, beating Nott’m Forest after a replay, has meant the bookies have given them the utmost respect, but the Toffee’s look to have turned a new leaf after an abysmal start to the season and they get our vote to march on into the draw for the fifth round at Birmingham’s expense.

 

Everton themselves have a hefty unbeaten run to their name after going seven games without losing in the Premiership. A lot of them, five in fact, were draws but they have won two of their last three, one of which coming against Man City, and Everton have won on their last two home appearances; beating Burnley 2-0, Man City 2-0. Their defence finally looks stable, with Arsenal being the only team to have scored against Tim Howard in their last three, and even those were unlucky goals on Everton’s part, while goals have been flying in for the Toffee’s, scoring six in their last three and managing at least one goal in their last seven league games.

 

The Everton camp has it’s swagger back, some momentum to build upon and we fancy them, the 2009 beaten finalists, to go on another fruitful run in the competition. However, their best chance of doing so will be at Goodison Park so David Moyes will be desperate to finish the job at home on Saturday.

 

A big boost in Everton’s match credentials is that David Moyes could perform a rare act in gnamin an unchanged side to the one that beat Man City last weekend. His Everton dressing room has been hit with the injury plague for the past two seasons or so but the injuries are slowly evening themselves out, while the emergence of Landon Donovan on loan has sparked his troops into immediate action. Donovan has that bit of guile, that creative spark that has enabled Everton to be more of a threat in the final third and the likes of Pienaar, Saha & Cahill have reaped the rewards from the American’s hard work and ingenuity by regaining some of the confidence they lost after a difficult start to the season. He has, however, yet to score his first goal in an Everton shirt but Saturday is an ideal time to kick-start his tally.

 

 

Alex McLeish could also name an unchanged side for this clash with Everton, the same team that beat Nottingham Forest in Round 3, but Everton are beginning to welcome back some old yet familiar faces, with even Mikel Arteta close to a return, and the mood in the Everton camp has risen since Christmas so ‘Brummie’ fans could be watching their side fall to their first defeat in all competitions since 24th, October.