Can Ange Postecoglou’s side keep up their good league form when they head to Goodison Park on Saturday? We look ahead to the encounter with our Everton vs Tottenham prediction and preview.
Everton vs Tottenham Stats: The Quick Hits
- Tottenham are predicted to win at Goodison Park, defeating Everton in 45.2% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.
- Spurs are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League visits to Goodison Park (W3 D7).
- Everton have only lost two of their last seven top-flight home games, against Manchester City and Manchester United.
Match Preview
Sean Dyche must find a way for Everton to arrest their winless Premier League run, already contending with a 10-point deduction and returning to the relegation zone ahead of Saturday’s early kick-off against Tottenham at Goodison Park.
A breach of the Premier League’s financial and sustainability rulings, which has been appealed by the club, had Everton reeling before four straight top-flight wins – against Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Burnley – somewhat eased the growing concern of Championship football next season in the blue half of Merseyside.
However, Dyche’s men have since suffered a five-game winless run in the competition, losing to Spurs, Manchester City and Wolves before back-to-back goalless draws with Aston Villa and Fulham.
A point in the 0-0 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Matchday 22 should not be frowned upon for the Toffees, where goalkeeper Jordan Pickford kept yet another clean sheet. The England number one has now kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League this season (eight), with six of those coming in his last nine league matches.
Ashley Young made an encouraging return from injury against Fulham on Tuesday, though Dyche will likely remain without Amadou Onana, André Gomes, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Dele Alli, Idrissa Gueye and Séamus Coleman as Everton’s midfield continues to be depleted. Doucouré will be the main miss for the home side, having scored three goals in his last six Premier League appearances at Goodison Park, as many as in his first 47 games on home soil for the Toffees.
As for the visitors, Spurs continued their top-four push with a comeback 3-2 victory at home to Brentford on Wednesday. Neal Maupay opened the scoring, infuriating James Maddison after imitating his celebration, before Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison scored second-half goals in a blistering response at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Some nerves still remained on MD 22 in north London as Ivan Toney’s strike – set up by a comical Udogie error – teed up a nervy ending, although Postecoglou’s men held on for a victory that moved them up to fourth in the league table after edging ahead of Villa on goal difference. Spurs also sit just three points behind Arsenal and Manchester City, though the latter have a game in hand as that pair trail league-leading Liverpool by five.
Maddison, if slightly aggrieved with Maupay’s opening-goal mockery, returned to fitness for the Brentford win after a three-month long absence, though Postecoglou’s lineup on Saturday will remain without a few familiar faces. Son Heung-min and Yves Bissouma are at the Asian Cup and Africa Cup of Nations respectively, while Manor Solomon, Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon remain out – though Pape Sarr could return after Senegal’s AFCON elimination.
That lengthy list of absentees has offered Richarlison a chance to step up, however. The Brazilian has scored seven goals in his last seven Premier League games, more than three times as many as he netted in his first 39 matches in the competition for Tottenham (two). Timo Werner has also slotted in well since his loan from RB Leipzig, becoming just the second player to provide an assist in each of his first two Premier League appearances for Spurs, after Serhiy Rebrov in August 2000.
The Brazilian striker will also fancy his chances at Goodison, aiming to become the first player to score home and away against Everton in a single Premier League campaign having previously played for the Merseyside club. Richarlison has scored in two of his last three away league games, having scored in just one of his first 21 on the road for Spurs.
Everton vs Tottenham Head-to-Head
Tottenham have won more Premier League games against Everton (30) than they have against any other club, while they’ve also scored more goals against the Toffees (100) than they have against any other side in the competition.
Indeed, Everton have won just one of their last 22 Premier League games against Spurs (D10 L11) and are winless in six against them since a 1-0 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on MD1 in 2020-21.
As for recent times at Goodison, there should be no fear for the visitors, who are unbeaten in each of their last 10 trips to the blue half of Merseyside in the Premier League (W3 D7), with each of their last four visits ending level.
That four-game run of draws would do neither side any favours with a continuation here, though Everton have only drawn five consecutive home league matches against Bury (1912-1928) and Leicester City (1994-2000).
The last meeting between Everton and Spurs came two days before Christmas, with Spurs racing into a two-goal lead inside 18 minutes thanks to strikes from Richarlison and Son. Andre Gomes scored in the 82nd minute to make it a tense finish in a game that Everton would have felt aggrieved not to have won at least a point in. No away side have managed to produce as many shots on target in a Premier League game at Spurs this season than Everton did that day (8).
Recent Form
Everton have lost just two of their last seven home Premier League games (W3 D2) – against Manchester City and Manchester United – while Dyche’s side have also kept three clean sheets in their last four league matches on home soil.
Those three shutouts came against Aston Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle United, though Everton have won just two of their last 13 Premier League games kicking off at 12:30pm on a Saturday (D5 L6), while they are winless in such fixtures this term (2-2 vs Sheffield United in September and a 2-0 loss at Liverpool in October).
However, Spurs have won just one of their last five away Premier League games (D2 L2), with that victory coming at Nottingham Forest in December – and their record in this kick-off time is poor, too.
Having won their first two Premier League games kicking off at 12:30pm on a Saturday this season (against Bournemouth and Luton), Spurs lost their last such game away to Wolves in November. In fact, none of Tottenham’s last 12 Premier League games kicking off in this timeslot on a Saturday have finished level (W5 L7).
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Everton vs Tottenham Prediction
The Opta supercomputer predicts an away win at Goodison Park, with Tottenham triumphing in 45.2% of 10,000 pre-match simulations, compared to an Everton victory in 26.6%.
A draw is more likely than a victory for Dyche’s side, with that result predicted in 28.2% of data-led forecasts, although that would damage Everton’s survival hopes.
At the time of writing, Everton’s relegation chances rank at 21.5%, though Luton Town (36.3%), Nottingham Forest (33.1%), Burnley (95.3%) and Sheffield United (99%) all have a greater chance of going down. Meanwhile, Tottenham’s top-four chances rank at 48.7% in the same Opta end-of-season predictions.
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