Match Preview: Brighton v Everton
It’s only seven weeks since Brighton and Hove Albion last played Everton, but such is the lack of sense made by the Premier League fixture list that here we are facing them again.
That trip to Everton ended in a 3-1 defeat with Richarlison in particular unplayable. Not a good sign, especially when you consider the fact that the Albion will be without Maty Ryan for the first of a possible seven matches as he represents Australia at the Asian Cup of Nations.
The good news is that most Evertonians consider the performance from the hosts at Goodison that day to be their best of the season. But even so, it will take a big effort for the Albion to end an incredible 2018 on a high with another three points.
Who are Everton?
Everton were founded in 1878 as St Domingo, which sounds more like an island somewhere in the Indian Ocean where a wealthy businessman would take his girlfriend in order to murder them and prevent his wife finding out about their sordid affair rather than a football club based in Liverpool. The founders obviously realised this and less than a year later, St Domingo became Everton. They were founding members of the Football League in 1888 and have since gone onto win 15 major trophies including nine league titles, five FA Cups and one UEFA Cup Winners Cup. With 116 seasons of top flight football under their belts, Everton have racked up more campaigns in the top division than any other side – and approximately 110 more than the Albion have managed.
What are they like now?
The Toffee’s have been in a bit of flux really since David Moyes left for Manchester United in the summer of 2013. Since then, they’ve rattled through Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman, Big Sam Allardyce and Marco Silva in the search for a manager that can help them crack the massive glass ceiling into the top six on a regular basis. Some appointments have worked out – Martinez finished fifth in his first campaign and Koeman seventh – but they looked to be in a relegation battle last season until Big Sam put down his pint of wine and rode to the rescue, securing an impressive eighth place finish. His reward was to be sacked with Silva taking over. It looks like another finish somewhere between seventh and 10th will be on the cards now that Manchester United might have sorted themselves out to ensure the top six is filled with the usual candidates.
Which players should we be worried about?
Plenty of eyebrows were raised when Silva raided former club Watford for Richarlison at a cost of £50m. It’s turned out to be something of a bargain though, as we found out when the Brazilian scored twice in Brighton’s 3-1 defeat at Goodison Park in November. Gylfi Sigurdsson was pretty much unplayable that day as well and in Jordan Pickford, the Toffees have one of the stars of the England side which reached the World Cup semi finals in Russia.
What’s the Albion’s record against Everton like?
With Everton having spent so long playing top division football and the Toffees and the Albion tending to avoid each other in cup draws like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift on the red carpet, there have been only 14 meetings between the two. The head-to-head isn’t great from an Albion point of view with only two wins for the Seagulls and only one of those has come in the league – a 3-1 success with Tony Grealish, Gerry Ryan and Steve Foster scoring in February 1982.
What’s the best WeAreBrighton.com memory of Everton at home?
Everton’s visit to the Amex last season was moved to a Sunday lunchtime in order for it to be show live in India, an absolutely disgraceful decision with no consideration for the fans who actually pay to watch games live in this country. It did however give us an excuse to write a feature on a Brighton and Hove Albion Themed Indian Banquet. Davy Propperdom, anyone?
What’s the worst WeAreBrighton.com memory of Everton at home?
A needless lunchtime kick off on a Sunday when you are horrifically hungover. Not much more to say, really.
Whose played for both sides?
Shane Duffy began his career at Everton but was deemed not good enough by the Toffee’s hierarchy and so moved to Blackburn Rovers from where we picked him up for a bargain £4m. Other individuals to have represented both clubs are few and far between and you certainly couldn’t apply the term “played” to Kevin McLeod’s Albion contribution, given that he merrily picked up pay cheques for two seasons without actually doing anything. Another fine Micky Adams Version II signing.
Other than football, what is Everton famous for?
Now, we got a strongly worded and somewhat threatening email from an upset individual due to mentioning Madeleine McCann in our last match preview against Everton. So with that in mind, we’ll avoid mentioning that the world’s greatest hide and seek player is a Toffees fan and instead focus on the fact that Paul McCartney came from the area and that it is home to the beautiful Everton Park, created in the 1980s to bring some greenery to Liverpool.
Where’s the betting value for Brighton v Everton?
Brighton will take to the field for the first time in a Premier League game without Maty Ryan and frankly, that is a bloody scary proposition. Everton are 13/10 to win the game while you can back them to score twice or more – which they of course managed with Ryan between the sticks last time – at 6/5.
Prediction
A 3-1 win to Everton. Hopefully, we’re wildly wrong.
