Football – England – Premier League
Saturday 18th April 2015 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Everton scored a valuable point away from home at Swansea City in a 1-1 draw last weekend, but they now return to Goodison Park where they look to secure a third consecutive home win following victories over Newcastle United and Southampton.
Everton are unbeaten in their last four overall with an additional 2-1 win over QPR at Loftus Road, while their home form has tightened up considerably as The Toffees have lost just once in their last twelve matches on home turf.
That loss came against Stoke City way back on Boxing Day but the merseysiders have registered some important wins within this sequence such as West Ham, Newcastle United and Southampton as well as holding Manchester City and arch rivals Liverpool to 1-1 and 0-0 draws respectively.
The Toffees’ overall home record stands at 5-7-3 23/18 and they’ve kept six clean sheets to date.
Visitors Burnley suffered a 1-0 home defeat to high-flying Arsenal last Saturday which left Sean Dyche’s side in the bottom three with a difficult trip to Everton ahead of them. Burnley have won just once in their last eleven Premier League matches despite promising much and giving 110% but effort alone is sadly not enough in the top flight.
The Clarets’ lone success during this sequence was a 1-0 win over Lancashire rivals Manchester City, but that was at Turf Moor where they’ve registered four of their five wins so far this season. Away from home tells a very different story as their record shows a disappointing 1-5-9 12/30 and they’ve lost four of their last five on the road with defeats at Sunderland, Manchester United, Liverpool and Southampton.
In addition, Burnley have failed to score on eight occasions so far on their travels, and their goalscoring abilities could be tested once again at Goodison Park here this afternoon.
To sum up, Everton have really tightened up at home over the last few months and possess a solid defensive unit at the back. I’ll therefore back them to take the honours here with perhaps a 1-0 win.
Pick: Everton straight win @ 1.73 Sportingbet
