English Premier
2012-03-31 - Everton vs West Brom
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 31 March 2012 - Kick Off 3pm
Everton
David Moyes will have been over the moon to see his side move through to the Semi Final of the FA Cup on Tuesday and a chance for the fans to have a day out at Wembley. He won't want to rest on his laurels though, and will want to pick up some momentum going into that Semi Final in two weeks time against their local rivals Liverpool.
Everton moved up to 9th in the table last weekend with an impressive win at Swansea and will look to back up that result in front of their own fans. They are 6-3-6 at Goodison Park this season, scoring 15 goals and conceding 14, and will look to improve on that knowing a win would take them above Liverpool in the table for at least 24 hours.
After failing to win in 3 games, and losing 2 of those, it seemed like the Toffees had lost a little bit of form at just the wrong time, but they have turned that around with back to back away wins at Swansea in the League and Sunderland in the Cup. Everton have failed to win their last 2 games at Goodison Park, but they had won 5 in a row before that and Arsenal were the first team to win here in 9 games in all competitions.
Steven Pienaar is back in the squad after being ineligible for the FA Cup tie, but both Seamus Coleman and Jack Rodwell are likely to miss out. David Moyes could make a couple of changes to his starting eleven as this is the 7th game the team has had in 22 days.
West Brom
West Brom received a huge amount of plaudits for some recent results, but they have been brought back down to Earth recently, including a comprehensive 1-3 home loss to Newcastle United last weekend. Roy Hodgson will demand his side get back to basics with a top half finish still within their grasp.
The team are 14th in the Premier League, but they are just 6 points behind Liverpool in 7th so a run of good form over the last 8 games gives them a great opportunity to finish in the top half of the table. West Brom have been particularly effective away from home where they are 6-4-5 this season, scoring 21 goals and conceding 22.
3 consecutive wins in the Premier League have since been followed by a run of 3 games without a win and they were fortunate to even pick up 1 point from their last 3 games when totally outplayed at Wigan Athletic recently. West Brom have lost just 2 of their last 9 away games in the Premier League, both losses coming in games in which they failed to score.
Chris Brunt and Jerome Thomas should be available for selection, but James Morrison, Steven Reid and Graham Dorrans are out.
Head to Head
This will be the third, and final, meeting between the teams this season- Everton won 0-1 at the Hawthornes in the League and also beat West Brom in the Carling Cup at home, although needing extra time on that occasion.
West Brom will have good memories of this ground having won here 1-4 last season, although that was the first time they won here since 1981.
Everton have won just 1 of their last 4 home games against West Brom in all competitions.
Prediction
Everton have had a few days to recover from their FA Cup exertions at Sunderland on Tuesday night, but I still expect some changes to be made to the first team after a gruelling set of games.
They should be able to play with a bit of freedom that is afforded to them after reaching the Semi Final of the Cup and the motivation for a good performance is there as they could move above Liverpool if they collect the three points from the game.
West Brom had been playing well up until the last couple of weeks and it will be interesting to see if they can get back in the groove. With safety almost secured, I think Roy Hodgson will want his side to get to the 40 point mark as soon as possible, but will also allow them to express themselves with their solid away form all season.
I just think the home side will be a little freer of the two teams, but I think you have to respect the fact that West Brom have been so effective away from home and so quotes of odds on that Everton win look a little short to me.
Instead, I am going for goals in this game as both sides are likely to go out for the win and both have strikers that can score goals, especially now Everton have Nikika Jelavic up to speed in their team. West Brom have scored in 7 of their last 9 away games and Everton had scored in 11 straight home games before Arsenal managed a clean sheet here, albeit fortunately with a couple of decisions from the officials going their way.
3 of the last 4 games at Goodison Park in the League between the teams has seen at least 3 goals scored and I will back that to happen again.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Everton 2-1 West Brom
