Fulham V Everton – Saturday, 25th September (15:00 GMT)
I’m breaking a cardinal sin with this selection, backing a team completely out of sorts and advertising nothing in regards of form, but Everton are a handsome return waiting to happen and the Toffees could prove a sweet punt should their forwards react positively to David Moyes’ recent public criticism.
Now isn’t the best time to announce your allegiances to Everton, although these Everton fans are hardened supporters and have been put more through the mill than a poxy five-game start of the season slump which has seen them pick up just a solitary point thus far. But so far it has been a season to forget for Everton fans, there’s no hiding from that, a time to grab a pillow and, no, not smother yourself; leave that to your pals across the Mersey at Anfield, but to hide from the torture being displayed on Sky Sports News every hour, repeatedly.
On Tuesday, Everton were sent packing from the Carling Cup – A meaningless, pointless and shoddy cup anyhow – by League One’s Brenford. We should emphasise the ‘LEAGUE ONE‘ bit as that is all anyone really cares about, as who are Brentford? Nah, seriously, who are they?
Even so, it wasn’t as though the Toffees were outplayed, more along the lines of their forwards once again going missing. Yakubu started the game but rather wished he hadn’t by the end, while Jermaine Beckford lasted until the end so he could miss his moment of redemption from the penalty spot, but he also wished he hadn’t bothered, although the sweet nothings whispered into his ear by the onrushing Brentford fans may have awoken the former Leeds hitman from his slumber.
The fact of the matter is, Everton battered Brentford in that game, should have been 3 maybe even 4 up by the break, and haven’t done a great deal wrong in their Premier League encounters this season, bar games with Newcastle United and Manchester United, although even in the latter they weren’t half bad in the final third, just useless in their own – a slight reversal of the trend but certainly not a welcome one.
The problem with Everton is they can’t score, meaning the rest of the team suffers as a consequence, mainly with their confidence and it works like a domino affect, which then leads to a normally ship tight defence, one scared senseless by an authoritative Tim Howard in goal, caving in and conceding a goal which then makes Everton look absolutely rubbish when in reality it couldn’t be any further from the truth.
On Saturday, David Moyes takes his under performers down to London, where what awaits them is a Fulham side not known for their scoring prowess and will be without any recognised forward for the arrival of Everton at Craven Cottage. Clint Dempsey will deputise up front in the wake of injuries to Zamora and Dembele, and while the American can be a nuisance with his runs and more notably his heading, he’s a damn sight easier to defend against than say Zamora.
Everton couldn’t have it any easier if they hand-crafted Saturday’s fixture themselves, although they would have etched John Pantsil’s name into the Fulham defence as that man has a better scoring ratio against Fulham this season than Everton’s strikers have against, well, anyone.
Matt’s Tip: Everton to WIN – 2.80 Ladbrokes
Bolton Wanderers V Manchester United – Sunday, 26th September (12:00 GMT) – LIVE on ESPN
Manchester United will look to keep the pressure on Chelsea at the top of the table when the meet with Bolton on Sunday, although, with Chelsea playing 24 hours earlier away in Manchester with Man City, by Sunday it could simply be a case of United playing catch up as they take on Bolton Wanderers at The Reebok stadium in a fixture they sailed through last season winning 4-0.
It’s been a decent week if you’re a United supporter, which half the country seems to be these days, one which began with a tasty 3-2 win over Liverpool at Old Trafford before Sir Alex’s second string put in a professional performance against Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup, with Michael Owen on the score sheet in a 5-2 win.
Michael Owen‘s midweek brace in the Carling Cup has lead to the lad receiving more confidence and self belief if his post-match comments were anything to go by. More like left the former Liverpool and Newcastle forward is in dream land. Owen claims he senses more action this season, more pitch time following his clinical display against Championship outfit Scunthorpe United. Comments which were first greeted with stunned silence before an orchestra of hysterical giggling by the entire English football populous.
Owen has made a grand total of two appearances in the league so far, to which both were from off the bench and neither resulted in the injury prone striker scoring against ‘actual opposition’, while he was overlooked entirely for United’s game with Liverpool last weekend. This in comparison to Dimitar Berbatov’s exploits, where he’s started every league game so far and has racked up six goals, including a breathtaking hat-trick against Liverpool last Sunday. As Fergie’s managerial pal Rafa Benitez would say, ‘Let’s face facts here’; Berbatov is a rejuvenated sort, back to his very best much like when he was with Tottenham, and won’t embark upon bench duty for some time to come if he continues his rich vein of form. Meanwhile Wayne Rooney could sleep with the entire United squad’s other half’s and would still get into the team, and that’s not even mentioning the fact he hasn’t scored from open play since March, at least not on a pitch anyway.
Even though United’s start to the new season has been impressive, this despite a couple of away glitches, with United unbeaten after five games and still exerting a great deal of pressure onto leaders Chelsea, they will do well to overhaul a Bolton side gradually on the up under Owen Coyle. The combination of Bolton’s raw aggression and Coyle’s affection for technical football has proved effective thus far for the Trotters, who have lost just one of their opening five league games and even that came under unfortunate circumstances – a 4-1 defeat away to Arsenal when reduced to ten men with the score at 1-1.
This Bolton defence has also come on leaps and bounds under Coyle, and while they did concede twice on their last home outing that only really came about through Jussi Jaaskelainen‘s dismissal midway through the first half which left Bolton down to ten men for the majority of the game and with some viking lad between the sticks. They did, however, claw back the deficit , displaying an abundance of character which would of had Fergie sitting up and taking notes, especially as United have had a tendency to throw leads away this season, on the road as well.
A full strength Bolton defence would take some working on to break down, a player with vision and dexterity to find the gaps and exploit them very much the call from United, and there’s only two players capable of doing that on Sunday: Paul Scholes and the in form Dimitar Berbatov. And it was these two which combined to deadly affect when the two sides last met at The Reebok, with Berbatov scoring twice to seal a win of vital importance only for it to be in vein come the end of the season. And we’re backing these two to come together once again on Sunday and plot Bolton’s downfall. The telling factor though, or the catalyst for Scholes and Berbatov, is that Bolton’s best defender; their leader at the back, their smartest card in the pack, Gary Cahill, is unavailable for selection because of his red card at The Emirates against Arsenal, there’s a touch of irony there I feel.
Bolton would have needed their defence at full strength in order to even come close to shutting out a goal-hungry United, and although Jaaskelainen will no doubt give it his best shot, as he normally does in the big games, we have every faith in Berbatov and Scholes continuing their rich vein of form, although it will be the Bulgarian likely to claim the plaudits once more with the goals in the wake of Rooney’s absence, who will be at The Reebok, probably even named in the starting XI but will nod-off mid-game no doubt.
Matt’s Tip: Dimitar Berbatov First Goalscorer – 5.00 SkyBet
Multiple Corner:
All To Win: Reading, Colchester, Crewe & Lincoln – 24/1 WilliamHill
Premiership Predictor: Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool & Manchester United all to win – 13/1 Ladbrokes
Both Teams to Score (Goals Galore): Newcastle Vs Stoke, Scunthorpe Vs Ipswich, Rochdale Vs Plymouth & Rotherham Vs Chesterfield – 9/1 BetFred
Value Acca: Sheff Utd, Middlesbrough, Yeovil, Accrington & Wycombe all to win – 297/1 VCBet
