The longest 3 months of the year for football fans come to an end this Saturday when the new Premier League season kicks off. For Everton, it’s a 3pm kick-off at Goodison against newly promoted side Watford. It’s been a pre-season of ups and downs for Everton and with Deulofeu and Cleverley the only new faces on the eve of the new season there are a lot of nerves on the blue half of Merseyside. However, with the promise of new faces on the way and new contracts for McCarthy and Mirallas, things are beginning to look up. Pre-season kicked off with a 4-0 win at Swindon before the blues headed to Singapore for the Barclays Asia Trophy. It ended with a 3-1 loss to Arsenal in the final after previously defeating Stoke on penalties. It was then back to Britain where we defeated Hearts and Dundee on our Scotland tour. This was followed by a 2-0 loss to Leeds and a narrow defeat to Villareal in Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial.
Meanwhile, Watford have wasted no time in recruiting new players since they sealed promotion in May and have made 10 new signings. And a solid pre-season for the Hornets in which they won 4, drawn 1 and lost 2 means there is reason for optimism ahead of their first season in the top flight since 2006/07. The last time the 2 sides met at Goodison was coincidentally on the first day of the 2006/07 season. Everton triumphed 2-1 that day thanks to a debut day goal from Andy Johnson and Mikel Arteta. The last meeting was in February 2007 when Everton triumphed 3-0 at Vicarage Road. Goals from Manuel Fernandes, Andy Johnson and Leon Osman put Watford to the sword that day.
Everton have won the last 9 meetings between the two sides in all competitions. The opening day of the season hasn’t been kind to Everton in the Premier League era as we have conceded more on the opening weekends (35) than any other side. This season will be Watford’s 3rd in the Premier League, they were relegated in the previous two so will be eager to get off to a flying start on Saturday. This season opener will see the only 2 Spanish managers in the league. It’ll be Quique Flores’ first competitive game in charge of the hornets since he became their 5th manager in 12 months in early June. There’s likely to be goals in this game as Watford weren’t involved in a single goalless draw last season on their way to 2nd place in the Championship.
After picking up knocks in our friendly against Villareal, Kevin Mirallas and John Stones are both expected to be fit for Saturday’s season opener. Romelu Lukaku and Gerard Deulofeu however will both face late fitness tests ahead of the game after picking up hamstring injuries in pre-season. Tony Hibbert, Steven Pienaar and Darron Gibson are all ruled out while Muhamed Besic and Aiden McGeady are also likely to miss out. As for Watford, Almen Abdi and new signing Steven Berghuis are expected to miss out through injury. The hornets will be without Miguel Britos who is suspended while Jose Manuel Jurado is available after recovering from a muscle injury. Odion Ighalo is likely to be Watford’s biggest threat as he continued his goal scoring form with 6 goals in 7 pre-season games after scoring 20 last campaign.
Joel would be the favoured player to start in goal for most Evertonians but then Martinez isn’t most Evertonians so Tim Howard is expected to start. Should Stones be 100% fit for Saturday we can assume Roberto will start with his usual back four of Coleman, Stones, Jagielka and Baines. McCarthy will start in the centre of midfield but alongside who? Barry or Cleverley? We all know how much Martinez loves Barry but surely even he can’t dismiss Cleverley’s good pre-season form. Of course there is a possibility that all 3 could start with Barkley being benched but against a weaker opponent such as Watford, I doubt that. Ross Barkley should start in behind the striker with Mirallas on one wing. Should Deulofeu be fit you’d expect him to start on the other wing, however Martinez doesn’t like to rush players back and is rarely seen playing two wingers. If Deulofeu is available for selection I think his impact will be from the bench with a potential start for Osman. We can only hope that Lukaku will pass his late fitness test otherwise the fear is Arouna Kone could start. After 2 pre-season games out, a return for Lukaku could be crucial as his strength and pace could do some damage to one of the leagues weaker defences.
The opening game of the season is always a crucial one that’s set you up for the season ahead and nobody wants to lose. For Watford, a first top flight game in over 8 years and will be looking to cause an upset. For Everton, it’s a chance to get off to a good start against a weaker opponent and put the misery of last season behind us. With City, Chelsea, Liverpool and United as our next 4 home games this is a game Everton just have to win. With everyone fit there could be a few goals.
Score prediction: 4-1 Everton
Predicted line up (4-2-3-1): Howard, Coleman, Stones, Jagielka, Baines, McCarthy, Barry, Barkley, Osman, Mirallas, Lukaku.
Line up I’d like to see (4-2-3-1): Joel, Coleman, Stones, Jagielka, Baines, McCarthy, Cleverley, Barkley, Deulofeu, Mirallas, Lukaku.
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