This Monday evening sees a Premier League match when Everton host Crystal Palace at Goodison Park. Kick-off 20:00 GMT.
Last season Everton finished in a very disappointing 11th place. However Roberto Martinez's side are now looking more like their resilient selves. This season they have only lost 3 matches all campaign, and these were at home to Man Utd & Man City, and away at Arsenal. Here they are coming off a dramatic 3-3 draw away at promoted Bournemouth and this result left them in 7th place on 21 points. Everton’s recent home record reads an average looking W7, D4, L4.
When playing teams of Palace’s grading, Everton boast a decent looking record that reads W6, D1, L3 and the Toffee’s can be backed at around 2.05.
The recent head-to-head record favours the away side and reads Everton 0 wins, 0 draws and Crystal Palace 2 wins.
The draw can be backed at around 3.65 and this should certainly be given some very serious consideration when looking at Everton’s recent home form.
Crystal Palace under Alan Pardew are once again punching above their weight, and here they are coming off an excellent 5-1 home victory over struggling Newcastle. This victory left Palace in 6th place on 22 points, 1 place and 1 point above today’s opponents. Crystal Palace boast a very impressive away record which reads W10, D1, L4.
When visiting teams of Everton’s stature, again Palace’s form reads a positive looking W4, D3, L3 and the Eagles can be backed at around 3.85 and this looks to offer some value. If you do fancy Palace to keep up their good away record, then you are probably best keeping the draw on your side and they can be backed +0.5 goals at around 1.90.
As far as goals are concerned and with the line set at 2.5 then there are some mixed stats. When looking at both sides' last 10 home and away matches against similar opposition, then 10 of the 20 matches have seen 3 or more goals and 10 have seen 2 or less. When looking at the general stats 5 of Everton’s last 7 home games have seen 3 or more goals. Despite this, my ratings suggest value in Under 2.5 goals which can be backed at around 2.10
This is a difficult game to weigh up. My ratings suggest value in Under 2.5 goals. However the recent head-to-head matches have been goal filled affairs and I am going to leave the goal line alone.
For my trade I am turning to the match line where we have an Everton side who are resilient at home coming up against a Palace side that are resilient away from home. When looking at Everton’s recent home form, 5 of their 7 victories have come against teams placed 15th and below and here they are coming up against a Palace side whose recent 4 losses have come against sides placed 7th and above. The draw has to be given some serious consideration and I shall keep this on my side and my recommended trade is Crystal Palace +0.5 goals at around 1.90.