The weekend’s Premier League action kicks off at Goodison Park in what promises to be a very intriguing encounter.
Where do we even begin with Everton? I left it as late as possible to do this piece with Marco Silva’s job hanging in the balance. Lo and behold, he received his marching orders on Thursday evening following Wednesday’s Merseyside derby drubbing.
At the time of writing, David Moyes remains firm favourite to replace Silva, though there are rumours that Everton have already held talks with the much-travelled Vitor Pereira – current head coach of Chinese club Shanghai SIPG FC.
Things couldn’t be much different for the opposing side’s managerial fortunes at present. Club legend Frank Lampard has shown what can be achieved with youth and a now-halved transfer ban, and has done remarkably well so far with what he had in front of him.
A home win away from Champions League knockout football from what was a tricky group on paper, coupled with a very solid start in the Premier League which sees them sitting 6 points clear of 5th place, has seen Lampard maintain, if not enhance, his already God-like status amongst the Chelsea faithful.
Chelsea bounced back to winning ways midweek courtesy of their talismanic duo of Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount, forerunners for young player of the year, and providing there was no lasting damage to Abraham’s knock he picked up, they will head into this clash fully confident of brushing aside a side in turmoil.
Given the circus that is Everton at present, I think recent form between the two goes out the window here. That said, Chelsea have failed to register in their last three league games against the Toffees, though that happening again is highly improbable given Chelsea’s free-scoring antics this season.
Which leads me to my first selection of this Same Game Multi acca punt: Both Teams to Score. This has landed in 67% of Chelsea’s games this season, and in all bar one of their seven away league games – the 4-0 defeat to Man United on the opening day of the season being the only exception.
Both teams have scored in five of Everton’s last six games, and while they have been unquestionably dismal, they are still managing to nick a goal or two in each game. For this reason, both teams to score at 8/15 looks a steal as leg one of our SGM.
Next up is what seems like another no-brainer: the aforementioned Abraham to score anytime. The Chelsea frontman has been in scintillating form this season, netting 11 times already and averaging a goal every 96 minutes. He was at his brilliant best versus Villa, not only scoring but being instrumental in Mount’s goal too – so, assuming he is at full fitness for this encounter, the 10/11 on him scoring anytime appeals against a very leaky Everton defence.
Chelsea have taken the lead a pretty impressive 12 times in their 15 league games this season, which leads us to our next couple of SGM selections: Chelsea to score the first goal at 8/11 and Chelsea to be leading at half time at 17/10.
The final selection, which ties in nicely with what has gone before, is over 3.5 goals in the match at 8/5. There is a good deal of relation between most of these selections, so getting slightly bigger than 8/1 for an SGM on all of them looks cracking value to me!
Bet Summary
- Both Teams To Score – 8/15
- Tammy Abraham Anytime Goalscorer – 10/11
- Team To Score The First Goal: Chelsea – 8/11
- Half Time: Chelsea – 17/10
- Over/Under 3.5 match goals: Over – 8/5
A £/€1 five-fold acca on these selections returns £/€9.14 including stake on pp.com. Odds correct at time of posting, subject to change.
Everton 5/2, Draw 11/4, Chelsea 10/11