Our picks

Everton vs Watford: 10/12/2018 – match preview and predicted starting XIs

Everton vs Watford

Date: 10/12/2018

K/O: 20:00

Venue: Goodison Park

Referee: Kevin Friend

TV: Sky Sports Main Event 

Watford host Everton on Monday night as Marco Silva faces his former club for the first time since being fired after claims of an ‘unwarranted approach’ by his new side Everton, back in January.

Marco Silva seems to have the Toffees moving in the right direction and they are currently sitting pretty in the league on 23 points after 15 league games. A win against the Hornets would move them above Manchester United into 6th due to their superior goal difference and with fixtures against Manchester City and Tottenham upcoming, Silva will be determined to pick up the win. What’s most notable about the Everton side this season is their defensive improvements with Yerry Mina and Lucas Digne having a vital part to play here and Silva will be looking for another defensive shut out come Monday evening.

As for the Hornets, they began the season with a bang yet arrive at Goodison Park winless in their last five fixtures. Despite their positive beginning to the campaign, they have slowly dropped down the league in recent weeks and find themselves situated in the bottom half on 20 points. A win tonight would boost Gracia’s side up to at least 9th but a better offensive performance will be critical at Goodison.

This matchup really is the return of old friends as Marco Silva and Richarlison welcome their old Watford side with Gerard Deulofeu and Tom Cleverley returning to a ground where the home fans once sang their name. The latter has been out injured recently but could be set to make a return against his old side with Deulofeu likely to line up for the Hornets.

Team News

Everton

Silva has a tough call to make on the position of Richarlison ahead of the fixture; with the Brazilian returning to his more favoured left flank against Newcastle, he netted in the 1-1 draw and looked at his best. Yet Cenk Tosun lead the line and didn’t really impress which could cause Silva to move the 21-year-old back to the position he has played in recently and lead the line against his former side.

The Toffees have struggled with scoring as of late, netting just twice in their last four Premier League meetings. Richarlison and key playmaker, Gylfi Sigurdsson, have just one each and they will be looking to build on that in front of their home crowd. It could be the pace down the flank from Bernard and Digne which could be critical in this fixture, with the latter creating 10 chances in his last four games.

Defensively, Silva has this team coming around with the addition of a healthy Mina in the middle to partner with Keane. In conjunction with Jordan Pickford, the Toffees have two clean sheets in their last four games which should really be three when taking into account the Merseyside derby.



Everton also enter the game with a late fitness test for Morgan Schneiderlin, who continues his rehab after a lower leg injury.

Watford

Tom Cleverley and Darryl Janmaat could both be available for Javi Gracia on Monday night. Cleverley, still yet to feature this year, has been training with the first team and “doesn’t feel anything strange.”  Janmaat off the back of a meniscus procedure is “ready and available.”

Watford are winless in their last five games and have picked up just a single point, but the final score hasn’t been indicative of how they have played. They impressed in a 2-1 loss against the champions but like their opponents on Monday, they have only managed two goals in their last four fixtures and have struggled to convert opportunities in front of goal.

Through the middle, Watford continue to play very well, but Gracia will be without Etienne Capoue who picked up a 3-game ban for a red card against Leicester. Nathaniel Chalobah could partner with Abdoulaye Doucoure in the middle and be asked to control the tempo of the game with Deulofeu possibly moving back to the right flank.

Predicted Starting XI’s:

Everton (4-2-3-1) – Pickford; Digne, Mina, Keane, Coleman; Gomes, Gueye; Bernard, Sigurdsson, Walcott; Richarlison

Watford (4-4-2) – Foster; Masina, Kabasele, Cathcart, Femenia; Pereya, Chalobah, Doucoure, Deulofeu; Deeney, Success

Score Prediction: Everton 0 Watford 0

With both teams struggling to find attacking returns, this could be a game played in the middle of the pitch resulting in a 0-0 score. While there are many sub-plots to the game, there isn’t much to separate these clubs on the pitch.

Stephen Toumi

Watford supporter! #FPL ID#446 | Vegan | Craft beer enthusiast, homebrewer #FPLBeerClub | #30SecondBeerReview Host of Pitch & Pint Pod #pitchpintpod

90MAAT News Now

Premier League Table

90MAAT Social Media

ScoopDragon Football News Network

Search The Site