Manchester City vs. Everton and Pick to Win
Date:Sunday, January 15th, 2017
Where: English Premier League Goodison Park – Everton, Greater Liverpool, UK
by Keith, Professional Soccer/Football Handicapper, Predictem
Match Odds: Manchester City 22/25, Everton 7/2, Draw 29/10
Moneyline: Manchester City -112, Everton +350, Draw +290
Over/Under Best Market: UNDER 2.5 (23/20) +115
A key North West Derby is on the horizon as the cities of Manchester and Liverpool will be doing battle in two theatres this weekend, both of which will be influential in the English Premier League race. Its the Toffees of Everton against the Citizens of Manchester City. The latest edition of this inter-city feud is set to take place Sunday at Goodison Park in Everton. This is not the usual Merseyside Derby one would expect to see Everton playing an influential role. No, the Toffees actually can step outside of the aforementioned rivalry and be a problem for another English side besides Liverpool for once.
Currently, both these teams are hovering around the top seven in the English Premier League table. Man City has 42 points, the Evertonians sit with 30. At one point the Toffees sat in second on the English Premier League table. The Toffees have revitalized their football program after meandering and mingling in the middle of the table for the past couple seasons. Now, this team has an opportunity to once again be vying for European qualification as the Toffees had once established a reputation as a regular in such affairs. As for the Citizens, they are operating with a full plate here. Manchester City is competing for Champions League and FA Cup credentials as well and undoubtedly boss Pep Guardiola is looking to make a clean sweep. With this being said, Man City have had some trouble on the back end as their defense has been relatively non-existent and their offense has won games for them. As for the Toffees, they too love to light up the scoreboard but have had some solid defensive performances over the course of the season. For Everton this is an academic home game where they can step in and put all their chips on the table. Man City has plenty of distractions and fanfare surrounding their name. This sets up City for a terrible let-down given the fact they have had trouble away from home this year already. See Leicester City and also refer to Southampton in 2015/16. Everton is a dangerous team they have beaten Chelsea and Arsenal already this season.
We will once again champion the importance of staying clear of juice, it doesnt matter how good any team is. Manchester City has been a spectacle for the English Premier League but after jumping out to a commanding lead, they have since fallen back a step. We were already targeted Man City at home with Everton earlier this season. The Toffees found a way to be troublesome for Man City and this typifies what we typically see of Manchester City teams. The Citizens start strong and fade down the backstretch and many takers are starting to believe this situation may be coming to fruition even if City have been in good form as of late. Still, Manchester City has a great chance of winning this league and given the fact this game is at Everton, many takers are failing to consider home pitch advantage playing a role in this one in light of how good Man City appears. This can be extremely hazardous when we have a team as good as Everton at the price offered here. It is simply too good to pass up. In Over/Under Goal Markets we will go ahead and call for the UNDER 2.5 as scoring will likely be minimized despite the two sides being offense-first clubs. We have come to find that going against expectation has yielded the most dividends in these Over/Under markets and without question, many are expecting a shootout here between the Toffees and Citizens. Ultimately here we stand to risk two units for the potential of picking up 4.65 units if both wagers land.
Manchester City Recent Form
W West Ham United 5-0
W – Burnley 2-1
L Liverpool 0-1
W Hull City 3-0
W Arsenal 2-1
Everton Recent Form
L Leicester City 1-2
W Southampton 3-0
D Hull City 2-2
W Leicester City 2-0
L – Liverpool 0-1
Keith’s Prediction for the Game: EVERTON 7/2 (+350) and UNDER 2.5 23/20 (+115)