Everton v West Ham: Hosts vulnerable in potential four-goal show
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If this match was taking place a month ago, the home win would be seen as a foregone conclusion, with West Ham on a four-game league losing streak in which they haemorrhaged 14 goals and Everton leading the opposition to a then-unstoppable-looking Manchester City.
As it stands, the Toffees are still 5/6 favourites, but there is far more doubt over the outcome. Part of that is because they are bang out of form, going five fixtures without a victory in all competitions and losing to the unremarkable trio of Norwich, Bournemouth and Burnley.
The other factor is the revival of West Ham since adopting a 3-4-3 formation, beating Crystal Palace and Sunderland 1-0 in the Premier League and Chelsea 2-1 in the EFL Cup.
As the side bringing the momentum with them, 11/4 on the draw and 7/2 on them winning seem like big prices, as indeed does evens on the double chance bet which combines both options.
The Irons had a terrible record against the Merseysiders for a very long time, not celebrating a single 90-minute triumph in any of their 18 meetings between December 2007 and November 2015.
That run was ended in the most memorable manner possible at Goodison Park in March as Slaven Bilic’s men rallied from 2-0 down with three strikes in the final 13 minutes. It is also perhaps notable how that result came days after their previous home derby success against Tottenham at the Boleyn.
Another trend to be aware of from recent showdowns between Everton and West Ham – and there have been a lot following their FA Cup double header in 2014-15 – is that 15 of the last 17, including each of the latest six, passed by without a clean sheet being kept.
Both teams to score is a 4/6 shot this time out, while that can be combined with the draw at 7/2 and three points for the Londoners at 13/2.
Four of their past seven Premier League clashes in Liverpool featured over 3.5 goals too, and that is a 7/4 prospect.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
