Premier League: Everton vs Sunderland preview

1831
May 8th, 2015
Back Premier League: Everton vs Sunderland preview

Sunderland need to avoid defeat at Everton on Saturday, otherwise their survival in the Premier League could be in real danger. The Black Cats are in the bottom three at the moment, so they need every point they can get in order to climb out of the drop zone. The reverse fixture ended 1-1, with Leighton Baines and Sebastian Larsson on the score sheet. Sunderland have won at Goodison Park last season, when they defeated Everton 1-0.

Last weekend Everton were defeated at Aston Villa, but their form before that match has been quite impressive, including a 3-0 win against Manchester United. Their current goal is to finish in the top half of the table as they are currently 11th but just three points behind the teams just above them, Stoke City and West Ham. Everton have won all their last four home matches without conceding a goal. Bryan Oviedo, Darron Gibson and Tony Hibbert are all out for the remainder of the season while Steven Pienaar is unlikely to feature on Saturday.

Sunderland have defeated Southampton 2-1 last weekend to grab the much-needed three points, but the fight for survival is far from over. The Black Cats have a game in hand on their rivals but that match is away at Arsenal, so there isn't much hope of grabbing points there. They will also visit champions Chelsea before the end of the season. The match at Everton and next week's home game against Leicester City will be vital for Sunderland. But they haven't won an away match since December, when they defeated Newcastle 1-0. Ricky Alvarez and Emmanuel Giaccherini could be unavailable but West Brom could make his return after a knee injury.

Probable line-ups:

Everton: Howard - Baines, Jagielka, Stones, Coleman - Barry, McCarthy, Mirallas, Barkley, Lennon - Lukaku.

Sunderland: Pantilimon - Jones, O'Shea, Brown, van Aanholt - Cattermole, Larsson, Rodwell, Johnson - Wickham, Defoe.

My prediction: Everton to win 2-1.

Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:

Everton win - 1.80 Draw - 3.75 Sunderland win - 5.00

Sports Events
Back to articles
100% welcome bonus at Rich Palms!

Search

Search Results

Select language

English English

Don't show this again

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share