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Unbeaten Everton
come to the Lane for their second away game on the trot and
will meet a re-invigorated Tottenham side looking to add to
their tally having got off the mark against Sheffield United
on Tuesday.
This 3.00 p.m.
Saturday kick off is likely to be one of few this season,
what with the UEFA Cup looming and if we progress, it will
mean many a Sunday afternoon game. So, this early
season meeting between us and the Toffees (as often seems to
happen) is one to savour for a number of reasons.
Firstly, they are doing well, having four points from two
games, which bodes well for a good game and we have a record
against them which is even better than Bolton's against us.
However, this should not let the team take to the field in
an over-confident manner, as the money that Everton have had
to spend has been used wisely for a change.
Having lost
Duncan Ferguson off the wage bill, the club could afford to
pay the wages of some decent enough buys. Replacing
the troublesome Scot up front, Andy Johnson comes in from
Crystal Palace for a whopping £8.6 million. What do
you get for that ? Well, a busy little striker, who
scores a lot of penalties and becomes an instant hero, being
stripped of his kit in his first pre-season friendly and on
getting his first goal, a badge kisser of the highest
quality. Shoring up things at the back was a priority,
as several of the central defenders were getting on a bit,
so Wolves' Joleon Lescott was signed up. A player who
has had some good times at Molineux, Lescott might have seen
better days, but he is tall, strong and good in the air,
although he likes to think he is good on the ball in a Rio
Ferdinand kind of way. The retirement of Nigel Martyn
left the goalkeeping department light and the season-long
loan of Tim Howard from Manchester United has been a good
move, as he is a pretty good goalie and might benefit from a
long run in the side.
Richard Wright,
John Ruddy and Iain Turner are all among the goalkeeping
ranks at Goodison Park, but will be playing back-up for
Howard. All have good qualities, but they are either
suspect to errors (Wright) or untried in the case of the
other two. Howard is a good shot-stopper, but is rash
coming out of goal sometimes and is beatable one-on-one.
In front of him,
Tony Hibbert has a mystery illness which has ruled him out
pending tests, Nuno Valente has a thigh problem and David
Weir has an ankle injury keeping him out. That leaves
three from Gary Naysmith, Joseph Yobo, Alan Stubbs and
Allesandro Pistone to form the back four with Lescott.
Stubbs and Yobo have been preferred to the new signing, but
I think he will get his first start, as they try to find a
solution to marking Berbatov. Pistone has been
over-looked of late, as he comes back from a knee injury and
the veterans Naysmith and Phil Neville pair up at the back,
with the former Manc having been moved back to full back on
the other side to the Scot. I think that Lennon will
have a lot of joy running at either of the full-backs as he
did at Goodison late in the season and with Routledge on the
bench, it could provide a double route of attack late in the
game. Centrally, the height in the Everton defence
will be hard to get the better of, but Dimitar's movement
might pull them about enough for our midfielders to run in
behind them.
In the Everton
midfield there are Leon Osman, James McFadden, Lee Carsley,
Kevin Kilbane, Simon Davies, Mikael Arteta, Tim Cahill and
Dutchman Andy van der Meyde. The former Internazionale man's
troubles have been well publicised since his arrival, but on
the pitch he has had more problems, with a red card against
Liverpool and some inconsistent performances.
Therefore, Moyes has plumped for a four in midfield of
Osman, Arteta, Carsley, Kilbane at home, with Cahill
coming off the bench after his exertions in the World Cup
with Australia. Osman is hard working and likes to get
forward, while Carsley is the foil for the adventurous
midfielder. He gets back to cover and gets stuck in,
while the other two - Kilbane and Arteta are more attack
minded too. Kilbane offers width on the left, while
Arteta is a good passer, who is very good at free-kicks.
Tim Cahill is an all-action midfielder, who enjoys scoring,
but can be drawn into arguments which have nothing to do
with him and this detracts from his dynamic play. In a
game like this, Moyes might choose to put Simon Davies into
the middle of midfield to give some more defensive cover in
there and as we all know, when he is on form, Davies can be
a highly effective player. The Welsh midfielder had a
difficult first season at Everton, with a series of minor
injuries before being moved inside from a wide position.
In the past
there was an inclination to play five in midfield, but with
Andy Johnson and James Beattie up front, the Everton boss
might feel it is better to keep the opposition defence tied
up with two strikers. Beattie has been flitting around
the fringes of the England squad for a while and last season
his early season sending off, injuries and problems settling
in caused him to have a difficult first season at Goodison,
but he scored a few goals at the end of the season.
His height and ability to hold players off should prove
useful as a foil for Johnson's more direct style and the
pairing might prove to be a good one for the Toffees.
Star youngster James Vaughan didn't play all last season as
he struggled to overcome knee ligament surgery undertaken by
the expert in this field Dr. Steadman in the US, but it is
hoped that he will be able to play more this season to
realise some of his striking potential. Victor
Anichebe is another youngster being given his chance this
season and has a two year contract to show what he can do,
but might have to settle for a place on the bench at best.
Tottenham will
be looking to pass the ball as well as they did against
Sheffield United and for a similar outcome. What they
will find is a Blues team full of effort and determined to
stay unbeaten, with Moyes rallying them on from the
touchline. Lennon will be key, but the visitors will
have made provision for his runs, but this should leave
space for others to operate in. Keane can pull strings
from his deeper position and with Tainio marauding forward,
it leaves Davids to put in the hard graft to make sure there
is enough cover. It might be time to give Edgar a rest
after two games in four days, with Zokora starting, now he
has an idea of what will face him.
At the back, the
aerial threat should be coped with well by Dawson and
Davenport, but the nippy Johnson will have to be watched and
the timing of tackles well made, otherwise penalties might
follow. Robbo will need to command his area and the
wide defenders keep Kilbane and Osman in check to stop the
supply to the front men. This game will be a lot tighter
than many might think and if Spurs can prevent Everton
getting into the game, then they could come out as winners
...
PREDICTION
: - Tottenham Hotspur 2 Everton
1
For more information on
the opponents and their history, including full result history of
matches between the two teams, click here.
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