SO last night saw Manchester United score four for the sixth time already this season, Tottenham lose more ground, and draws at The Hawthorns and the Amex Stadium.
What do tonight’s six PREMIER LEAGUE games have in store?
Why are Everton in such a mess?
FOR all of my journalistic career, there has been a feeling of groundhog day at Everton. The questions every season to manager and players have usually gone along the following: ‘Can the glory days come back to Goodison? Can you fulfil your ambitions of winning things at Everton?’ The Toffees have usually finished somewhere between fourth and eighth but missed out on the big prizes. Sadly this season, the topic is changing and we can’t be far away from the ‘too good to go down’ lines.
Yet, that was despite a huge summer outlay of more than £140 million on a whole cast of new players. But the inadequate replacement of Romelu Lukaku and his 25 goals has come back to haunt them on a game-by-game basis and cost Ronald Koeman his job. That inability to score goals has opened up problems elsewhere. There are three players who could play the No.10 role in Davy Klaassen, Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson, yet they were all signed this summer. Whose muddled thinking was that? And there is no-one for them to supply. At the back, Everton are shipping goals for fun and their chronic lack of pace across the pitch has made them easy opponents as they play in constant fear of that slowness being exposed.
Everton have already lost 12 games in all competitions three goals and seven of those have been by three goals or more. They have not just been losing, they have been getting hammered. The club has had bad spells before, but a lack of fight and desire has never normally been one of the problems. However, when a whole host of new players are brought in, the team must start well. If not, the dressing room becomes fractured as players are not as familiar with each other and the same level of trust and understanding is not there. With almost two completely different line-ups, Everton were humbled by Atalanta and Southampton in the space of three days.
Koeman, a figure of real stature across Europe, could not figure it out. David Unsworth’s passion play didn’t have the desired effect after one or two games and now he is starting to become the hapless caretaker manager in the manner that John Carver was at Newcastle. And it’s why the club sees no alternative but to turn to the Premier League’s ultimate Mr Fix-It, Sam Allardyce, to get them out of this mess.
Adam’s Wednesday scores
Arsenal 2 Huddersfield 0
Huddersfield put in a huge effort in narrowly losing to Manchester City and may struggle to replicate that here. Comfortable home win.
Bournemouth 2 Burnley 1
The Cherries are starting to hit their stride after a poor start and three points from this one would continue that momentum.
Chelsea 3 Swansea 0
Chelsea should win this one at a canter against a side who are heading for a bleak winter.
Everton 1 West Ham 1
Who would have thought this would be 17th against 18th at the start of the season? Watching the two sides, it’s must easier to understand. A nervy occasion and a point apiece.
Manchester City 2 Southampton 0
Even though Southampton had a morale-boosting win on Sunday, they won’t have enough to slow down the league leaders’ charge.
Stoke 1 Liverpool 3
This is one of those games where no matter how they defend, Liverpool will simply outscore their opponents.
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