Two sides heading in opposite directions in the Premier League

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Two sides heading in opposite directions in the Premier League table do battle at Goodison Park on Thursday, as Everton play host to Newcastle United. The Toffees went down 1-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the weekend’s fixtures, while Eddie Howe’s men lost to Chelsea by the same scoreline.

It’s dark times at Goodison Park with Everton at real risk of suffering their first relegation from the English top flight since way back in 1951. Put bluntly, the arrival of manager Frank Lampard hasn’t had the desired impact for the Premier League (PL) ever-presents so far and during his short time in charge, only one other PL side has picked up fewer points than their total of three (W1, L5).

The struggling ‘Toffees’ come into this clash with just 22 points on the board after 26 matches – that’s their lowest ever tally at this stage of any campaign – but at least they have games in hand over all their rivals. Lampard remained upbeat in the wake of Sunday’s 1-0 home defeat to Wolves, stating “there’s still a long way to go”, yet given his side are without even a goal in their last four PL matches, their prospects of turning things around look slim.

When Eddie Howe arrived at Newcastle United in November, they trailed Everton by ten points in the table, now the ‘Toon’ are nine points better off! This captures the remarkable job Howe’s done at St James’ Park but his side do come into this clash on the back of a 1-0 loss at Chelsea, albeit that was impressively their first PL defeat of 2022 (W6, D2).

Given where these two teams sit in the form table, Newcastle will surely be confident of getting back to winning ways here. A victory would be their fourth consecutive one against the Merseysiders, and you’d have to go back to 1995 for the last time they achieved that feat. Don’t be surprised to see them bag a couple of goals in the process too, considering they’ve netted at least twice in five of the last six H2Hs.

Date: 17/03/2022
Time: 22:00
Venue: Goodison Park (Liverpool)
Pick for this match:
” 2 ” – @ 3.11 ( BETWAY )