Coming off the back off a brilliant result against Chelsea, Everton will be full of confidence. Like ourselves Everton run hot and cold and you’re never quite sure what side will turn up. Personally I fancy West Ham to nick the win. Our home record has been very good recently and although many still don’t like the stadium, it’s beginning to become a tough place for teams to get a result. Although it’s a cliche, the first goal really will be massive. I really feel we relax and play some brilliant stuff when we are leading in games. It helps that once ahead in a game, teams start to throw more men forward to get an equaliser, this plays into our hands with the pace of Anderson/Antonio on the counter attack. Where we often struggle is breaking teams down when they sit deep and make it hard for us to play. Fortunately for us, Everton do not play this still of football so I think we will have space to create chances.
Who to watch out for?
The obvious candidates are Richarlison and Sigurdsson. Richarlison has been a brilliant signing for Everton, his pace and trickery will no doubt cause us problems. For me, it’s a no brainier to start Fredericks, rather than Zaba. Zabaleta’s form has dipped slightly recently, I thought he was poor against Huddersfield. Also, Fredericks electric pace will help him keep up with Richarlison. Fredericks also showed against Zaha and Mane that he can defend well 1 on 1 against some of the best wingers in the league. It’s also been reported that Zaba has been offered a coaching role with Man City next season, I personally can’t see him turning that down so for me you have to start playing Fredericks more regularly.
Make or break the rest of the season?
In a word yes – we currently still have a glimmer of hope of snatching the 7th spot. If we don’t beat Everton at home then in my opinion it’s game over, it will then be about getting a top 10 finish. Although we have some tricky fixtures in April if we come off the back of another home we will go into them full of confidence. We also have to remember that Wolves and Watford have one eye on the cup so league performances may start to take a bit of a dip.
WestHamTalk 