Have the Toffees digested the shock?

Imagine going into the international break in 14th place with 14 points and a nine-point lead and returning with four points and 19th place. Not possible? Not possible! Around a week ago, the Toffees were deducted a whopping ten points for breaching financial regulations. Liverpool now start the 13th matchday of the Premier League from a relegation spot. The visitors to Goodison Park are the struggling record champions, who could, however, record their third win in a row in the league

Despite this, Everton vs Manchester United is not a particularly good bet for an away win. The Red Devils have been too inconsistent and harmless in recent weeks. Erik ten Hag has come in for a lot of criticism and could be called into question again in the event of another disappointment late on Sunday afternoon. The task will not be a walk in the park for Bruno Fernandes and Co. anyway, as the Toffees have definitely not looked like a relegation-threatened team recently

In particular, the visitors from the industrial city could well get their teeth into the home side’s generally solid defense. Without going into too much detail, the prediction of rather few goals between Everton and Manchester United over the course of the match therefore provides an appealing value

Everton – Statistics & current form

Just when Everton Football Club had started to gain momentum, the news of a points deduction hit like a bombshell. Because the club from Liverpool is accused of having made more than the permitted 120 million euros in losses over the past three years, they were hit with a draconian penalty of a ten-point deduction. Immediately after the verdict was announced, what Everton saw as an “unjust and disproportionate” penalty was applied, causing the Toffees to drop to penultimate place in the league table. It is only because of their better goal difference compared to Burnley that Everton are not in 20th place.

It will now be interesting to see how the team will cope with the setback for which they are not responsible. Both extremes seem conceivable in terms of atmosphere and performance. Either a positive “now is the right time” mentality will develop, bringing the collective even closer together, or the upward sporting trend will come to an abrupt halt as the team has been robbed of a chance to catch up with the middle of the table

Everton feel comfortable when they don’t have to play the game

If we take recent performances into account, the prediction between Everton and Manchester United leans more towards the home side winning a point. Before the international break, coach Sean Dyche’s side had a very solid seven points from three games. In fact, they have won three of their last five Premier League matches. All four wins this season have therefore come in the last seven matches in the English top flight. The Toffees can therefore be said to be in very solid form, which is once again based on a compact backline.

Liverpool have conceded just five goals in their last five games. With a total of 17 goals conceded, the Blues have one of the best defensive lines in the bottom half of the table. Moreover, keeper Pickford has only conceded six of those 17 goals at home. In six home games, only the sensational promoted side Luton Town (1-2) were able to net twice at Goodison Park.

This once again underlines the fact that Dyche’s side find it far more difficult to play as favorites than as outsiders. Against the Red Devils, the Toffees can restrict themselves entirely to defensive work and score goals through switching and set pieces. This is one of the reasons why we see the more appealing value in the double chance 1X odds between Everton and Manchester United.

Predicted Everton line-up:

Manchester United – Statistics & current form

There are still some real weeks of truth to come for Manchester United and manager Erik ten Hag before the turn of the year. In the Premier League, the record champions must ensure that they do not completely lose touch with the top. At Champions League level, there is also the threat of a bitter end with two matchdays to go. Next Wednesday’s visit to Galatasaray Istanbul is absolutely crucial in this respect.

First, however, the Red Devils want to confirm the pleasing results from the recent past. The global club from the industrial city has won four of its last five Premier League games. However, this result must be put into perspective, as Marcus Rashford and Co. have not been convincing in any of these four victories. With a lot of luck, opponents from the bottom half of the table (Luton, Brentford, Sheffield and Fulham) were each defeated by exactly one goal. Against stronger opponents such as Manchester City (0:3) or in Copenhagen (3:4), they not only lost but also conceded numerous goals

How long can ten Hag be kept on?

Another worrying aspect is that there are hardly any clubs in the English top flight that are even more harmless on the offensive than MUFC. Coach ten Hag’s star ensemble has scored a measly 13 goals so far. Only three out of twelve times have they scored more than one goal, and in half of all PL matches played, the bet on under 2.5 would have gone through, most recently twice in a row. Between Everton and Manchester United, the odds on few goals in the course of the match also play a major role in our considerations.

Despite the fact that the record champions have won all three of their most recent PL away games, we are far from placing a bet on the visiting team, which is certainly stronger in terms of quality. On the one hand, there is a lot of pressure on the players & coaches, on the other hand, we cannot expect Lady Luck to have her fingers in the pie again. The bottom line is that we wouldn’t even be surprised if the Dutch coach is relieved of his duties before the end of this calendar year. The gap between ambition and reality is too wide – in terms of results and soccer.

Predicted Manchester United line-up:

Everton – Manchester United head-to-head comparison / H2H result

In the last eight Premier League encounters between these teams, Everton have come out on top just once (four draws, three defeats). In contrast, the Toffees have only lost four of their last eleven games at home in England’s top flight. In the previous season, ManUtd narrowly won the first and second legs 2-1 and 2-0. However, the last time the Red Devils celebrated two consecutive away wins at Goodison Park was in 2007. A good omen for Everton FC on Sunday afternoon?

Everton – Manchester United betting tip

For the first time since October 2022, Everton Football Club could make it two Premier League wins in a row on Sunday afternoon. Although the betting odds between Everton and Manchester United do not necessarily point to a three-way home win, we would by no means rule out such a scenario. The Toffees have been in impressive form of late, picking up seven points from their last three games and winning three of their last five league matches.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how coach Sean Dyche’s team will react to the incidents during the international break. With ten points dropped, Liverpool suddenly find themselves back in a relegation spot and under pressure to pick up points to stay in contention for the drop. The Red Devils could turn out to be a welcome guest, as the Toffees have had a much easier time in the role of underdogs so far this season

Further complicating matters from MUFC’s point of view is the fact that the performances on show do not scare the competition. The individual quality is there, but as a team the ten Hag squad has not even come close to convincing. We are therefore predicting a 0-0 draw between Everton and Manchester United at the break. The home side would certainly not be unhappy with that, while the visitors have scored just 13 goals so far and have little offensive power anyway. The top odds of 3.20 at Interwetten are far too high in any case and we are therefore playing with four units