Another big point for the Toffees?

After a disastrous season on balance, Everton Football Club still get a chance to pull their own head out of the noose these days and weeks. The Toffees have moved into a promising position in the battle to stay in the relegation zone thanks to two wins in a row, but they still face a lot of danger. Only one point separates them from the first relegation place.

This makes Wednesday night’s away game at Vicarage Road all the more important. Ahead of the Watford v Everton clash, far lower odds are being offered on the away win, which of course has to do with the home side already being safely relegated as the penultimate side in the table. The Hornets have also been underwhelming of late, losing six in a row in the Premier League.

In view of this constellation and Liverpool’s upward form curve, the first tendency between Watford and Everton is to predict an away win. The Blues also have a point to make up, having lost the first leg 5-2 at home to the nine-time English champions. For the first time ever, the Hornets could now celebrate two league wins in a row against the Toffees.

Watford – Statistics & current form

After finishing second in the Championship last season to earn promotion to the Premier League, the Hornets’ adventure in the top flight is now over after just one season. Since the weekend, it is clear that the club from the county of Hertfordshire can no longer achieve the mathematical goal of staying in the league. With three matches left to play, the second-last team is a whopping twelve points behind the bottom of the league.

Relegation is therefore definitely deserved, especially as no other team in England’s top division has suffered more defeats than the Hornets. In 35 games, Watford lost 25 times. Just six wins and four draws round off a disappointing record that Roy Hodgson was unable to improve after taking over at the end of January.

Watford lack PL fitness

Under the stewardship of the 74-year-old, who will not be making the move to the second tier and will instead end his long coaching career in the summer, the Hornets have suffered a whopping 11 defeats in 15 Premier League games. Most recently, the Hornets lost six in a row. In the course of this losing streak, the Hornets scored only three goals of their own and conceded 15. In view of this poor form, it would be fatal to bet on a surprising three-goal win for the relegated team between Watford and Everton.

To make matters worse, the club from Watford, some 30 kilometres north-west of London, is the weakest home team in the league. Two wins in 17 attempts read just as disastrous as eleven home defeats in a row and 41 goals conceded at home. Incidentally, it has been 90 years since a team from the top flight went without a point in front of a home crowd for such a long time. The aforementioned number of goals conceded is also exceeded by only three other clubs in Premier League history.

The Hornets have been relegated, some players and the coach are on a farewell tour and the motivation to push themselves to the limit in the meaningless final spurt seems to be limited, at least according to the impressions of the last few weeks. It is therefore understandable that Hodgson’s troops are being treated as underdogs according to the odds before the match between Watford and Everton. Kucka, Pedro, Louza, Hernandez, Cleverley and Samir will all be missing through injury. It’s quite possible that the coach will even give minutes to some youngsters on Wednesday night.

Predicted Watford line-up:
Foster; Ngakia, Cathcart, Troost-Ekong, Masina; Sissoko, Kayembe, Etebo; Sarr, King, Dennis

Last matches played by Watford:

Premier League
07/05/2022 – Crystal Palace 1 – 0 Watford

30/04/2022 – Watford 1 – 2 Burnley

23/04/2022 – Manchester City 5 – 1 Watford

16/04/2022 – Watford 1 – 2 Brentford

09/04/2022 – Watford 0 – 3 Leeds

Everton – Statistics & current form

Regardless of how the 2021/22 season ends in the home straight, there are no two opinions about Everton being the Premier League’s biggest disappointment. Starting out with big ambitions, the Toffees couldn’t even begin to live up to their own expectations. Now, in the remaining matchdays, the aim is at least to avoid the Super-GAU in the form of relegation to the Championship.

In this respect, the prospects have recently improved noticeably. Because Frank Lampard’s team first won at home against Chelsea (1:0) and then followed it up with another win against Leicester (2:1) at the weekend, the dark blue and white team have worked their way up the table. However, with only one point separating them, the danger of relegation is still present.

Everton in pole position in relegation battle

One advantage in the fight to stay in the league could be that the Merseyside club has one more game to play than its direct rivals Leeds or Burnley and also faces opponents such as Watford, Crystal Palace and Brentford, for whom there is not much at stake in the table. Therefore, we dare to predict already today before the match Watford against Everton that the traditional club from Liverpool will not be relegated.

In fact, we believe that Richarlison and Co. will continue their upward trend on Wednesday and win three Premier League matches in a row for the first time since March 2021. Although the away record reads devastating with nine points from 17 matches and no less than 12 defeats, we are banking on the momentum, the fact that the Lampard eleven still desperately needs points and the available quality.

Apart from that, it should also be mentioned that Everton’s coach met Roy Hodgson three times in the Premier League and always got the upper hand. The former international will have to do without the injured Van de Beek, Godfrey, Patterson and Townsend. Mykolenko and Mina were still question marks, but at least the former is expected to be fit in time.

Predicted Everton line-up:
Pickford; Coleman, Holgate, Keane; Iwobi, Delph, Doucoure, Mykolenko; Gordon, Richarlison, Gray

Last games played by Everton:

Premier League
08/05/2022 – Leicester 1 – 2 Everton

01/05/2022 – Everton 1 – 0 Chelsea FC

24/04/2022 – Liverpool FC 2 – 0 Everton

21/04/2022 – Everton 1 – 1 Leicester

09/04/2022 – Everton 1 – 0 Manchester United

Watford – Everton Direct Comparison / H2H Record

27 matches have been played between the two clubs in England’s top flight so far. Everton have had the upper hand on 17 occasions. Only on six occasions have Watford come out on top. The first leg, however, was a 5-2 win for the Hornets, who could now celebrate two league wins in a row against the Toffees for the first time.

Everton’s record at Vicarage Road, meanwhile, is capable of improvement. They have lost three of their last four visits to Watford, although the current situation has changed things completely and the head-to-head record should be viewed with caution.

Watford – Everton Tip

Everton can take the next important step towards staying in the league during the week. In Watford v Everton, the betting odds are in favour of the Toffees, who could benefit from the fact that there is nothing at stake for the home side. The Hornets are already certain to be relegated and have left no doubt in recent weeks that they deserve to go down to the second tier.

Roy Hodgson’s side have lost their last six Premier League matches in a row, have now failed to pick up a point in 11 games at home and have conceded a record 41 goals at home all season. Since relegation has also been mathematically fixed since last weekend, it can be assumed that a somewhat changed team will be on the pitch on Wednesday.

Besides the Hornets’ woeful numbers, the recent decent form of Lampard’s eleven also speaks a clear language in favour of the visitors. The Toffees won both of their most recent matches and are therefore well on the way to at least a halfway conciliatory end to their messed-up season. We do not believe that the weakest team in the league at home will pose a threat to them in this endeavour.