Everton Looking to Build on Tough Start
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Everton finished seventh in the Premier League last season and in truth, that was the best they could probably hope to achieve.
With Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United finishing above them, the Toffees were never going to finish any higher and came top of the chasing pack.
If they are to improve on their seventh-place finish of last season, they will need to add a few more points to their own total and hope a team above them slips up.
Tottenham Hotspur are one of those teams which Everton will targeting this season. Mauricio Pochettino has done a tremendous job in guiding them to second place in the Premier League over the past two seasons but has his work cut out this campaign.
Tottenham Hotspur will play all their home matches at Wembley and this is already proving to be problematic.
Ronald Koeman has spent heavily in the transfer market this summer and will be hoping the players he brings in can help the club win this type of match. Trends show Everton have won eleven of their last twelve home matches in all competitions and that includes good wins over Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion last season.
Everton are very tough to beat at Goodison Park and only Chelsea and Liverpool have defeated the Toffees in their last twenty-three home Premier League games. Scoring goals at home in the league has not been a problem and Everton have scored an average of 2.8 goals per game across their last eleven matches.
Tottenham Hotspur have had a difficult start to the new Premier League season and having begun with a 2-0 win at Newcastle United, failed to win either of their matches at their adopted home of Wembley.
First there was the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea and this was followed by a 1-1 draw with Burnley, thanks to a late equaliser from the visitors.
Pochettino might be glad this match is away from home as Tottenham Hotspur have lost just two of their last twelve away games in the Premier League. Towards the end of last season there was big wins at Leicester City and Hull City and they have started well in this campaign with the win up at Newcastle United.
Trends show Tottenham Hotspur have won nine of their previous twelve Premier League games and while they may struggle at Wembley, are still a team to be feared.
Like many teams after the international break, Everton will be looking at the fitness of their players ahead of this game. Gylfi Sigurdsson starred for Iceland in their win over Ukraine and should start this match.
Tottenham Hotspur are in a similar position and they will be hoping Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen are fit to start the match. Fernando Llorente is expected to be on the bench.
Everton have failed to defeat Tottenham Hotspur in their last nine attempts. However, this could be the match where that run changes, as the pressure is on the visitors to pick up a win following their performances at home. This could be a low scoring game, with Everton just sneaking the win.
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