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Saints At Everton The Preview
Thursday, 9th Jul 2020 07:45

The last time that Saints won at Goodison Park in the League was 1997, meaning that few Saints fans under the age of 30 will have seen their team win there, add only one other previous league win since 1974 and it is a select club who have seen us win there.

A Saints win at Everton never seems to happen when there are many Saints fans present, last season's League cup win was an evening game and technically a draw as we won on penalties, the last Premier League win in November 1997 was a Sunday afternoon televised game and our win in 1992 was a Wednesday Evening game played only 3 days after 35,000 Saints fans had seen their team lose to Nottingham Forest at Wembley in the Zenith Data Systems Trophy final, it is fair to say that with only 14,000 or so in total in the crowd that night not many were Saints supporter.

Our previous win being in 1974 it is fair to say that you won't meet many people under the age of 40 who have witnessed a Saints win at Goodison Park

So perhaps this is the season it will change as it is another occasion that is out of the ordinary with no fans at all in the ground for this one.

We of course are looking to try and win three League games in a row for the first time in 4 years and this in itself would be a rare occurrence since our return to the Premier League in 2012.

Truth is the results on Wednesday evening went against us, Man City beating Newcastle was good in that the Geordies dropped belwo us with a 2 goal worse difference, but Burnley winning at West Ham and Sheffield United beating Wolves means that even if we beat the Toffee's our chances of fnishing in the top 10 although not impossible are looking unlikely.

But we have to stay focused and try to keep winning and see what we can achieve, a win against Everton will see us equal Claude Puel's total of 46 points 3 years ago, so that will be a significant landmark.

I don't expect much to change in the Saints side from the team that beat Manchester City, I think Che Adams will now be given a chance to end the season with a flourish and perhaps that the only change might be either Will Smallbone or Pierre Emille Hojbjerg in for Stuart Armstrong.

Now for the deja vu bit, the City game was a superb battling performance, but it still saw plenty of errors and lapses in concentration, we got away with some of those, mostly by our own effort, but we cannot keep up that level of commitment consistently so this will be another game where we have to hope that we get away with a few things.

My feeling is that we are due a draw, our last one having been back in December, this would not be a bad result,our first task now is to try and hold 12th place, our second to overhaul Everton for 11th and after that we can think of 12th.

We have a chance for a great end to the season, but I think that ultimately we will rue a catalogue of errors in far too many games that have cost us far too many points.

But we can look forward to next season with optimism, two good signings could see us a genuine top 10 contender.

Photo: Action Images



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highfield49 added 09:00 - Jul 9
Considering the desperate lack of consistency this season, and re-starting on the 34 point knife edge which could have led us being dragged into the relegation places, I still look at the league table to make absolutely sure that none of the bottom three can reach 43 points! As far as I'm concerned it's a question of seeing out the remaining games without picking up serious injuries to the critical players and planning for next season.
That said, the seeds of team spirit have been planted and look to be growing well so we can do without any disruption to that with media speculation or agent profiteering touting moves for Ings, Adams, Bertrand etc. this summer. Like yourself I'd be content with a draw at Everton but I'm sure that RH will be looking for three points to get the winning mentality in the players heads and have true belief in their ability to compete at a higher level. Unless there are compelling reasons to change the line up then I'd stick with the team that competed so well against City.
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halftimeorange added 09:44 - Jul 9
What tonight will surely tell us is just how both mentally and physically fit the Saints squad is. That effort against City must have been truly draining in concentration and effort and, whilst it's a level playing field for all teams with fixtures coming in rapid succession, there have been a fair few odd results since matches resumed involving sides trying to secure their EPL future. Everton's recent games have been tight and, as there is little to play for, this one should follow that pattern as long as Saints aren't a spent force.
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codge added 12:53 - Jul 9
If we play Hojbjerg then Everton will see how good a player he is and then they won’t want him, l say keep him on the bench and there’s a chance they still may take him.Coyr.
2

SanMarco added 13:15 - Jul 9
It is certainly true we are due a draw. I think the idea of a challenge for 8th is over-optimistic but win tonight and I will still have hopes for 10th. Goodison is probably our worst ground of those we visit a lot (Arsenal moved ground!!) so I am going to go for a low score draw...Oh and same team as Sunday of course.
1

SaintPaulVW added 14:57 - Jul 9
In the last game, Everton looked awful and we looked great. So by Premier League logic we will probably stuff this one up.

Mind you our last Amazon game was the win against Chelsea, so that's a better omen.

Just hoping we put in a great performance, no injuries and Adams scores again.

COYS!

0

underweststand added 15:34 - Jul 9
Wins at Goodison tend to coincide with Halley's Comet...Either we get blitzed or we lose points through bad luck or bad refereeing (with or without VAR).
3 points from an away game v. Everton is an early Christmas present , but if we can hold out against City's onslaught then just maybe ....we can re-write history again.
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1962saint added 16:00 - Jul 9
Having watched Saints for over 50 years I. was well aware of our terrible record at Goodison. There is no logical reason for it as we have often had good victories at home against them. Since we returned to the Prem this time we've won at Spurs, twice at Man U, and at Anfield but never against the team the other side of Stanley Park. I would trade any of this seasons wins including our last one v Man City and even the revenge away win at Leicester for a success tonight.
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