Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
At the start of the weekend Everton found themselves in 6th place, 5 points off the trio of teams at the top of the table. Ronald Koeman will no doubt be ruing the fact that they failed to get closer to the quintet of sides above him after defeat away to Burnley last Saturday.
What is more of a concern for Everton is that after such a bright to the season – the best ever opening 5 game run in the clubs history is that the next four matches have failed to bring a victory with defeats on the road to Bournemouth and Burnley.
The only positive result from that run of four games without a win is the solid point they earned away at Manchester City, they had Maarten Steklenburg to thank that afternoon as he saved not one but two Manchester City penalties to make sure Everton left with a share of the points.
Koeman will no doubt be scratching his head as to why Everton’s form has stuttered since their win over Middlesbrough on September 17th. It’s not as if they’ve been goal shy it’s just they’ve not been tight enough at the back.
It’s almost as if the old defensive traits of the Roberto Martinez era are rearing their ugly head again. Rebuilding this Everton side was always going to be a work in progress and perhaps that early form was the exception rather than the rule.
They play host to West Ham this afternoon who come to Merseyside on the back of a three game unbeaten run in the league with the last two resulting in victories. They were perhaps fortunate to bag a late late winner at home to Sunderland but that win gave The Hammers an all important three points as they start to pull away from the drop zone.
That run of good form in the league is also in addition to their EFL Cup win in midweek over local rivals Chelsea. It was quite apparent that the big sides aren’t taking the competition but Slaven Bilic certainly is as he side ran out 2-1 winners to move on to the Quarter Finals.
The majority of West Ham’s points have come at home this season almost debunking the myth that their new stadium is becoming a noose around their neck. On the road they picked up their first win a fortnight ago when they closed the game with Crystal Palace with 10 men to come away 1-0 victors.
They will be looking for more of the same this afternoon as an in form West Ham go up against an out of sorts Everton. I’m not sure West Ham will have enough to win their second away game in a row but I do think they will earn a share of the points. A draw for me.
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