EPL Fixture Preview: Arsenal vs. Everton

Ground: Goodison Park (Everton's)
Arsenal Injuries: Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri, Thomas Rosicky, Abou Diaby, Johan Djororu, Lukasz Fabianski
Everton Injuries: Jo, Mikel Arteta, Phil Jagielka, Yakubu

Oh the new season is beginning tomorrow and I, for one, am very excited for it. With Ronaldo and Tevez leaving Old Trafford, Alsono leaving Anfield and Man City spending like mad, this season promises to be one of the most competitive in recently memory. Arsenal have lost a couple of first-team members (Toure and Adebayor) but have strengthened their defense with the addition of Thomas Vermaelen.

Everton come into this season with high hopes of trying to break into the top-4 and achieving a Champions League spot. They have come 5th the last couple of years and under their manager Moyes, have managed to even qualify for the Champions League four years ago. They are a very hard working team and scoring goals from set plays is a major plus for them because of Fellaini, Cahill and Lescott. They never give up and this is evident with them scoring 15 of their 55 goals in the last 15 minutes of a game. The team is more pragmatic than offensively minded with 14 of their 17 wins coming by 1 or 2 goal margins. The leading scorers last year for the team were both midfielders; Cahill and Fellaini with 8 apiece.

Arsenal are coming into the season with many pundits writing them off, but they have the potential to challenge for trophies on all fronts. The loss of Toure was replaced with Vermaelen and Adebayor will be covered with Eduardo coming back and the promotion of Bendtner. There are some injury concerns, but the team seems well-stocked to compete even with all of the players out. Arsenal had a relatively poor season, where they were never really Premier League title contenders, but more-so competiting with Aston-Villa for the final Champions League spot. Arsenal was very strong going forward, scoring 68 goals in the EPL (the same as Manchester United), but was often poor on the defensive end, allowing 38 goals, much higher than EPL winning Manchester United’s 24. Improving our defensive record would go a long way towards making a strong push for the title.

This game will likely have Arsenal controlling most of the possession with Everton trying to nick a goal on the counter or on a set piece. It is going to be a feisty affair, and I am predicting that the score will end 2-1 for Arsenal.

Predicted Arsenal Line-up

-----------------Almunia------------------
Sagna----Gallas----Vermaelen------Clichy
Arshavin—Cesc---Denilson--------Eboue
-----------Bendtner—RVP----------------


Predicted Everton Line-up

------------------Howard--------------
Hibbert—Lescott------Yobo ----------Neville
Pienaar—Cahill-----Rodwell----------Osman
---------------Fellaini-----------------------
---------------------Saha--------------------