This weekend, Everton will face Fulham at the Hill Dickinson Stadium as both clubs fight to scale up the Premier League table. Everton’s form lately isn’t the best with just one win in their last seven league matches, drawing three and losing three.
They are currently in 14th position with 12 points from 10 games. Softfootball reported that their 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur ended their unbeaten run at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Head Coach, David Moyes has not given up on working to improve his team’s form even after they had lost to Manchester city and so he will look to steady the ship with this match.
Fulham is currently in 15th place with 11 points which means they are one place and one point behind Everton in the table. Fulham’s match against Arsenal ended in a 1-0 loss but they recently broke a run of away losses with victory over Wolves but still face questions on their road form.
Both teams are capable of scoring and conceding as they have similar records with Everton average around 1 goal scored and 1.3 conceded per match while Fulham average 1.2 goal scored and 1.4 conceded.
These stats shows an open game where both sides may find opportunities. In a pre-match press conference shared on Everton’s verified X handle, Manager David Moyes gave some updates on his players.
Speaking about Iliman Ndiaye’s future with Everton, he said,
I think he’s got a three and half year deal here, maybe more. So it’s something we are fully aware of. He’s playing really well, it’d be wrong for teams not to talk about him because of his form but here at Everton we are building a team, we want to build with players like Ili, so, we’ve got no intention of letting him go.
Moyes talked about Dibling and why he hasn’t got more playing time since he joined.
We want him to up his levels, up his training. When I first came here, Leighton Baines, John Stones, Joleon Lescott all had to sit and bide their time and wait for the right moments. That’s the way it is and I think for Tyler he’ll have to do that as well.
When asked about the attacking strength from his strikers, he mentioned that the output from Beto and Thierno Barry hasn’t been good enough but acknowledged Beto’s performance in the second half of last season as the reason they were still in the Premier League.
He added,
We are putting them under pressure to score goals as well. We need to give them that confidence and belief. But they have to give some back as well because they have to show us what they can do to get the jersey.
When he was asked about his thoughts on Marco’s management of Fulham, he said,
Marco’s done a brilliant job at Fulham. I wouldn’t say Fulham were ever really not that stable since they got back into the Premier League but I think, over recent seasons, they’ve actually become a really good side. Good players they’ve recruited well over several years, it’s not just been a one year thing, I think they’ve been able to do it over time. I think Marco’s done a really good job and he continues to do a good job.
Watch the pre-match interview below:
Team News
On the Everton side, Jarrad Branthwaite is out with a hamstring injury. Nathan Patterson is not available due to a foot injury and Iliman Ndiaye is still a doubt due to thigh issues but has been training with the team.
For Fulham, Antonee Robinson is unavailable because of a knee injury.
Possible Lineups
Everton (4-2-3-1): Jordan Pickford; Jake O’Brien, Michael Keane, James Tarkowski, Vitalii Mykolenko; Idrissa Gueye, James Garner; Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Iliman Ndiaye; Beto.
Fulham (4-2-3-1): Bernd Leno; Kenny Tête, Joachim Andersen, Calvin Bassey, Ryan Sessegnon; Alex Iwobi, Sander Berge; Harry Wilson, Joshua King, Raúl Jiménez.
Prediction
Because Everton will play at home and will push hard, they could have an edge over Fulham leveraging the opponent’s away struggles but just if they can dominate the game early.
Because Everton play at home and will push hard, they’re slight favorites. But Fulham’s away struggles give Everton the edge if they can control the game early. We could expect Everton to win against Fulham with a 2-1 score line.
In the Fulham’s official X handle, they posted a clip of the team stepping out for their training session.
