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Writer Prediction League: Everton vs. Crystal Palace

RBM, like Everton, looks to bounce back after striking out last week

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Much like Everton, our writers here at Royal Blue Mersey got off to a surprisingly good start this season, but have tragically come spiraling back to earth over the course of the last couple of weeks.

Everton's 1-0 loss to Bournemouth on Saturday caught us all by surprise -- so much so that our writers didn't even manage to pick up a single point! Here's a reminder of our very wrong predictions:

Writer Opener MOTM Winner Score
Adam Leighton Baines Idrissa Gueye Everton 1-0
Brian
Calvin Kevin Mirallas Gueye Everton 2-1
Darren Mirallas Gueye Everton 2-1
Matt Yannick Bolasie Gueye Draw 2-2
Mike Romelu Lukaku Gerard Deulofeu Everton 2-0
Ryan Lukaku Bolasie Everton 2-0
Sean Lukaku Bolasie Everton 2-0
Tom Lukaku Gueye Everton 3-1
Troy Lukaku Bolasie Everton 2-0
Tyler Lukaku Mirallas Everton 3-0

No one picked Junior Stanislas to score the opener, Maarten Stekelenburg as Everton's man of the match, or a Bournemouth victory of any scoreline, so this week's leaderboard looks exactly the same as last week's. There was an error in the discussion of last week's prediction league results, but the scores were correct, so there are no changes to the scoreboard now:

Writer Points
Adam 17
Darren 17
Tyler 17
Calvin 16
Ryan 16
Troy 16
Sean 15
Tom 15
Brian 13
Mike 11
Matt 10

Darren, Tyler, and I are still atop the leaderboard, with Calvin, Ryan, and Troy hot in pursuit.

This week, confidence in the Toffees remains pretty high, though a little more doubt has crept into the minds of our writers. Against Crystal Palace, our staff has the following predictions.

Writer Opener MOTM Winner Score
Adam Lukaku Gueye Everton 3-1
Brian Ross Barkley Gareth Barry Everton 1-0
Calvin Christian Benteke Gueye Draw 2-2
Darren
Matt Benteke Lukaku Everton 2-1
Mike Mirallas Barry Draw 2-2
Ryan Gueye Barkley Everton 2-1
Sean Wilfried Zaha Barkley Everton 3-1
Tom Bolasie Bolasie Everton 3-2
Troy Lukaku Gueye Everton 2-0
Tyler Lukaku Stekelenburg Everton 1-0

Though no writers picked Everton to lose to Alan Pardew's side, two predicted 2-2 draws at Goodison Park on Friday. Three writers picked Crystal Palace players to score the match's opening goal -- two went with Belgian striker Christian Benteke, and Sean chose Wilfried Zaha.

Three writers foresee Ross Barkley breaking out of his recent funk, with Brian picking him to score the opener, and Ryan and Sean choosing the Englishman as their predicted MOTM. Ryan also went slightly off the grid with his opening goalscorer, predicting that Gueye will get Everton on the board.

Other than those few interesting choices, there aren't a ton of surprises among these picks. Eight writers predicted an Everton victory, three a Lukaku opening goal, and three a Gueye man-of-the-match performance -- each of which have been the most popular choices of the season thus far.