Two suffering teams meet at Goodison Park on Saturday, when Everton host newly-promoted Fulham in a match that the home side will be desperate to win. The two teams have not met since the 2013-2014 season, when Everton defeated Fulham 4-1 at home and 3-1 in London as the Cottagers got relegated to the Championship. Overall, Everton have won four of the last six direct matches, while Fulham collected a single victory during that span. Fulham have never managed to win an away match at Everton, and these two teams have been playing each other since 1926.
Everton are in pretty big trouble already, they have won just one of their six Premier League matches so far this season and everybody expected a lot better from them. Their only league victory this season was a 2-1 success over Southampton in August, but since then they recorded draws against Bournemouth and Huddersfield and lost 3-1 at home against West Ham and 2-0 at Arsenal last weekend. James McCarthy, Phil Jagielka, Andre Gomes and Beni Baningime are still injured, but summer signing Yerri Mina is now fit and will probably make the match squad. Right-back Seamus Coleman is an injury doubt for the home side.
Fulham have been fighting for every point since the start of the season, but their struggle has been quite ineffectual away from home as they lost two of their three matches, scored 3 goals and conceded 8. However, the Cottagers have lost just three of their six Premier League matches so far this season and they have also made it to the fourth round of the League Cup after defeating Millwall 3-1 this week. Neeskens Kebano is still unavailable for the Cottagers due to an ankle problem, while Tom Cairney is dealing with a foot injury and will most likely miss out.
Probable line-ups:
Everton: Pickford - Coleman, Keane, Zouma, Digne - Gueye, Schneiderlin - Walcott, Sigurdsson, Richarlison - Tosun
Fulham: Bettinelli - Christie, Odoi, Ream, Bryan - Anguissa, McDonald, Seri - Schurrle, Mitrovic, Sessegnon
My prediction: Everton to win 2-1, the Toffees can't afford not to win this one.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Everton win - 1.72
Draw - 3.75
Fulham win - 4.50
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