Everton kick off 2021 as they welcome West Ham to Goodison Park in a tasty New Year Day opener in the Premier League as part of a double-bill.
Victory could send Everton second for at least a few hours, whilst West Ham could rise to ninth if can take a huge win on Merseyside.
Team News
Richarlison is set to feature after having been ruled out of Monday’s eventually postponed match against Manchester City with concussion which saw him miss their Boxing Day win at Sheffield United.
James Rodriguez (calf), Allan (hamstring), Lucas Digne (ankle), Jean-Phillipe Gbamin (fitness) and Fabian Delph (muscle) all remain absent, although Rodriguez, Digne and Allan could return in coming weeks.
West Ham have no fresh injury concerns to report after Tuesday’s goalless draw at Southampton, as Arthur Masuaku represents their only absentee with a knee injury.
Stat Attack
- Everton are unbeaten in three of their last five league meetings against West Ham (W2, D1, L2).
- West Ham have won just two of their last five league trips to Goodison Park (W2, L3).
- Dominic Calvert-Lewin has scored four goals in his last two appearances against West Ham, of which three came in their Fourth Round clash of this season’s League Cup at this ground.
- Coming into this round, no Premier League player has won more aerial battles this season than West Ham’s Tomas Soucek, who has won 94 aerial duels in 16 league appearances this season.
- 11 of Calvert-Lewin’s 16 league goals for Everton in 2020 came in the first 16 matchweeks of this season.
Prediction
Everton enter this match with six days of rest which should help them here against a West Ham team who have been quite erratic defensively in their last two fixtures, gifting Brighton two terrible goals before producing a robust display to keep a clean sheet at Southampton.
I however want to see more sharpness from Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees than what we saw on Boxing Day, although this is going to be another difficult contest in terms of breaking down the opposition’s defence.
As for West Ham, they lacked real attacking intent in terms of open play at Southampton with several of their best opportunities coming from set pieces and crosses into the air, which they can’t rely on here given Everton’s excellent aerial ability.
This therefore is going to be a tough contest between two strong teams but I think fitness will swing this Everton’s favour in the end.
Prediction: Everton 2-1 West Ham
Result: Everton 0-1 West Ham
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