Week 6 kicks off with the 292nd Merseyside derby, and Everton are still looking for their first win of the season (D3, L2). The blue side of Merseyside looks to overturn a rotten historical record, as only twice before having opened a PL season with six winless matches. It’s not going to come easy against a Liverpool side who come here looking for their third win on the bounce, super high on energy after a remarkable comeback in midweek.
The Toffees have endured a sticky start to the season, losing their first two games and drawing the last three with consecutive 1-1s. They’ve hung onto Anthony Gordon after fighting off interest from the big boys and added Neil Maupay to the squad, who should bring that extra dimension upfront and some well-needed goals as Everton have only netted 4 times so far, with Gordon getting 2 of them and his last 3 PL goals have all been the match opener. Still, this is a huge uphill task they face this week.
With Liverpool also starting indifferently (W2, D2, L1), they’ll want to build on big home wins against Bournemouth 9-0, where Firmino put in a man of the match performance, scoring twice and recording a hat-trick of assists, and Newcastle 2-1, where they snatched the game with a 98th-minute winner from super sub-Carvalho. Goals have been scored in both halves in 7 of Liverpool’s last 8 away games, and Firmino has scored 12 of his last 14 goals in the second half. Plenty of spice and goals are expected from the lunchtime showdown.
In recent H2Hs, Liverpool holds the advantage of having a 50%-win rate over the last 10 games (D4, L1) they also hold the same win rate over the last 20 matches (D9, L1). BTTS over the last 10 H2Hs stands at a miserable 30%, way under the average.
Key stats
* Everton has only won once in the previous 26 H2Hs
* 45% BTTS over the last 20 H2Hs
* Most Red Cards in any PL fixture (22)
* Liverpool have scored 15 times so far this season
* 45% Draws over the past 20 H2Hs
With Liverpool conceding the first 4 out of 5 games so far and Everton scoring first in the last twice they’ve played, Everton using the crowd to their advantage and scoring in the first half and Liverpool coming back as they so often do to equalise in the second half we make a prediction of a 1-1 draw to keep Everton’s draw run going.
