ENGLISH PREMIER BETTING PICK - EVERTON V SWANSEA

English Premier

2011-12-21 - Everton vs Swansea

A Sports Betting Pick by Lamps

EVERTON v SWANSEA
Football : England : Premiership
Wednesday 21st December - Kickoff 8:00pm

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Everton

The Toffees decline continues as they find themselves down 2 places to 14th following their 1-1 draw with Norwich at the weekend. Moyes's side has a lot of potential but just can't build up any momentum with the side losing 2 of their last 3 games.

This Wednesday Everton host the league's worst travellers and you could not pick a better opponent to be facing looking to get back to winning ways.

Everton seem to make 1 step forward and 2 back this season. They have only won back to back games once this year and have a really poor recent run of form with 2 wins from their last 7.

At Goodison Park, Everton has really struggled this season with just 2 wins from 8. The Toffees have won games against Wigan (3-1) and Wolves (2-1) with the latter coming in mid November. Defeats to QPR (0-1), Liverpool (0-2), United (0-1) and Stoke (0-1) has seen them plummet down the table with all defeats to nil.

In fact Everton's scoring all season has been poor with just 8 in 8 home games with them being shut out in half their games. It's not just at home where they have struggled scoring goals, in their last 3 games the Toffees have just 1 goal. If Swansea weren't so poor at the back on their travels another shutout could be on the cards.

Everton Team News
Anichebe is absent with doubts hanging over Coleman and Rodwell. I expect both to miss this one as Moyes looks to kick start his season for the umpteenth time.

Saha will start up top with Cahill in behind, the midfield of Drenthe, Osman, Neville and Fellaini is a good one but needs to start creating chances for the front 2.

At the back, Everton are quite solid with a back 4 of Baines, Jagielka, Heitinga and Hibbert. As ever Howard starts inbetween the sticks.

Swansea

Not many would have predicted that the Swans would sit higher in the table than Everton as we approach mid December. Rodgers is doing an excellent job with his small squad and after their solid 0-0 draw at Newcastle their gap from the bottom 3 is 5 points.

Back to back road games isn't ideal on a short week but the Swans visit Goodison having avoided defeat in 3 of their last 4 games.

Unfortunately for Swansea their away form has been poor this year and as mentioned above they rank last in the away table. Swansea have yet to win on their travels in 8 attempts but do have 3 draws.

The Swans have held off Wolves (2-2), Liverpool (0-0) and Newcastle (0-0) but suffered defeats at Man City (4-0), Arsenal (1-0), Chelsea (4-1), Norwich (3-1) and Blackburn (4-2).

Apart from the Wolves game, when the Swans have conceded they they lost all their away games. Conceding 18 in 8 is not good at over 2 a game and that's including their 2 0-0 scorelines! The side is heavily dependent on Vorm in goal to shut teams out and I can't see back to back road clean sheets for this side.

Swansea Team News
Bodde, Dyer and Tate miss this one for Rodger's side however the lineup is quite settled and I can't see many changes from the weekend.

Allen will support Graham up top whilst the midfield 4 keeps the ball very well with the likes of Dyer and Sinclair big threats down the flanks.

The back 4 must step up and not rely on Vorm, luckily form Williams and Caulker Saha and Cahill are not the most prolific strikers in the league and this is a good matchup for them.

The Betting Verdict

The Toffees can't win at home, Swans can't win away so something is likely to give way.

I'm going to side with the home side this week as I feel Swansea can't get two results in a row on the road. Everton played well for spells at the weekend but conceded the first goal and then struggled to break Norwich down.

The atmosphere will be electric at Goodison midweek and I will keep faith with Everton for one more week. Hoping for a big performance against the leagues worst travellers. Home Win.

Good Luck

The Statistics :

The Pick :

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