The Premier League weekend concludes with the Monday Night Football this week and it is a huge clash towards the bottom of the table as Everton welcome Crystal Palace to Goodison Park for a game both dare not lose.
Everton begin the night in the bottom three of the table but they will come out of the relegation zone should they avoid defeat in this one. A defeat would leave Crystal Palace just four points above the drop places and looking precariously over their shoulders.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels within the Monday Night Football programme. That show begins at 6.30pm ahead of an 8pm kick off at Goodison Park.
Everton
This has been a bit of a weird season for Everton. They don’t always look bad but yet they are in the bottom three of the table heading into the final third of the campaign. Their supporters will point to the fact that they had a 10 point deduction slapped on them and that is fair enough but it would be wrong to point that out without then recognising that they picked up some points with results they might not have got had it not been for the siege mentality that deduction built.
The simple fact is that Everton don’t really score enough goals, don’t really convince enough on home soil and have spent an awful lot of cash but still look like a bang ordinary side should certain players get injured. Unfortunately for them, at a time they could least afford it, those players have suffered injury this season. The positive for Everton is there is a decent defensive structure so if they ever do click in front of goal then you would imagine they can go on a winning run.
Crystal Palace
While Everton’s issues this season has been influenced by the authorities, Crystal Palace really only have themselves to blame for not going anywhere this term. They can clearly point to injuries as being a big problem but the fact that a relatively established Premier League outfit are so reliant on two players for their attacking output has to throw up questions of those making the decisions behind the scenes. The fact both Ebere Eze and Michael Olise are not out have Palace panicking.
There is no getting away from the fact that there is an enormous drop off between a Crystal Palace team which includes that pair to one which doesn’t. The other problem they have is they are starting to creak at the seams defensively and the last thing they can afford is to suddenly start shipping goals on a regular basis because even with their star duo around they don’t score enough goals to stay afloat in their aims and ambitions. Palace have won just two of their last 13 matches and picked up nine points from the last 39 available. They are steadily sliding to the Championship if something doesn’t change soon.
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Team News
Sean Dyche has suggested that Abdoulaye Doucore could be available for this match but didn’t commit to whether that would be a starting position or on the bench. Arnaut Danjuma will miss the game with an injury.
Crystal Palace are likely to be without Roy Hodgson on the sidelines as he was taken ill last week. Whoever is in the dugout instead of him will be without Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise and potentially Marc Guehi too, although there is a suggestion that the England defender could be fit.
Betting
This is a tough match to bet on because ultimately these are two out of form and it means so much and also we have an unknown in the Palace dugout with Roy Hodgson not around and his replacement seemingly not in place yet. Everton are without a win in their last seven but to be fair to them four of those seven have been against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur and they have played Aston Villa in that time too. Palace are in no form either and I just don’t want to trust either with my money.
I am happy to put my faith in the under here. Palace looked absolutely toothless against Chelsea on Monday night and can’t be relying on Jefferson Lerma wondergoals to keep them going and Everton should be capable of defending anything else that comes their way. At the other end of the pitch you wonder where Everton get much joy from open play unless someone pings one in from distance because there won’t be any room in behind and Palace are generally decent enough defending set plays, albeit they were horrendous at Arsenal recently. Were one of these to get in front I think the bus gets parked and they’ll attempt to hold on for dear life but while the under has been a terrible bet this season, and I’ve watched and read so much rubbish about why, with cobblers like weather, time added on and all that stuff highlighted when the real reason is the five sub rule, but these two aren’t going to be bringing anyone of standout quality on like the big clubs do and that makes me more comfortable to back under 2.5 goals in a game where one team has lost its attacking talent and the other has theirs underperforming. Under 2.5 goals will do me.
Tips
Back Under 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Sky Bet
