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Three straight league wins for Everton has the Toffees right back where they want to be — even after a slow start to the season.
Last weekend’s victory over Crystal Palace put the club into eighth place in the Premier League, just two points behind Bournemouth for sixth place, the highest spot the Toffees can feasibly hope to attain this season.
That race for sixth place comes even more plainly into view this week, with Everton traveling to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United — a club whose current struggles might mean sixth place is their best realistic finishing spot as well.
Before we dig into the match against the Red Devils though, let’s review the joy of the late Crystal Palace win — and what it means to our writers.
Crystal Palace Predictions
| Writer | First Scorer | Everton MOTM | Winner | Score | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | First Scorer | Everton MOTM | Winner | Score | Points |
| Adam B. | Bernard | Bernard | Everton | 1-0 | 2 |
| Adam D. | Richarlison | Sigurdsson | Everton | 2-1 | 2 |
| Brian F. | Richarlison | Pickford | Draw | 1-1 | 1 |
| Brian L. | Richarlison | Richarlison | Everton | 2-0 | 4 |
| Calvin | Richarlison | Richarlison | Everton | 2-0 | 4 |
| Chris | Walcott | Walcott | Draw | 1-1 | 0 |
| Geno | Walcott | Walcott | Everton | 2-1 | 2 |
| Matt A. | Sigurdsson | Sigurdsson | Everton | 2-0 | 4 |
| Matthew C. | Sigurdsson | Sigurdsson | Everton | 2-1 | 2 |
| Pete | Richarlison | Richarlison | Everton | 3-1 | 2 |
| Rachel | Richarlison | Bernard | Everton | 1-0 | 2 |
| Sean | Richarlison | Sigurdsson | Everton | 2-0 | 4 |
| Tom | Richarlison | Bernard | Everton | 3-0 | 2 |
| Zach | Richarlison | Richarlison | Everton | 3-1 | 2 |
Predictably, no one had Dominic Calvert-Lewin opening the scoring, since we all (correctly) assumed he wouldn’t start the match. Jordan Pickford’s penalty save handed him man of the match honors, earning a point for Brian F. in that column.
12 of 14 writers had Everton winning the match, with another four correctly predicting the 2-0 scoreline — Rachel and I both silently cursed when Cenk Tosun scored late to move the scoreline from 1-0.
The big week for many of our writers means we’ve got an increasingly tight race atop the table.
Prediction League Table
| Writer | Points |
|---|---|
| Writer | Points |
| Calvin | 64 |
| Rachel | 56 |
| Adam B. | 53 |
| Sean | 51 |
| Geno | 51 |
| Chris | 51 |
| Matt A. | 51 |
| Pete | 50 |
| Brian L. | 49 |
| Tom | 49 |
| Matthew C. | 46 |
| Brian F. | 45 |
| Zach | 44 |
Brian L. caught me atop the table, with Pete, Brian F., and Calvin all well within striking distance. With nearly a quarter of the season gone, Geno, Rachel, and Zach might need to get going sooner rather than later to remain relevant as the season moves forward.
They’ll have a chance to start closing that gap this week when Everton plays Manchester United. Jose Mourinho’s club is facing a host of issues right now, but the Toffees have been dreadful away to big clubs over the last decade — so which do we think will win out?
Manchester United Predictions
| Writer | First Scorer | Everton MOTM | Winner | Score | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | First Scorer | Everton MOTM | Winner | Score | Points |
| Adam B. | Sigurdsson | Sigurdsson | Draw | 1-1 | 0 |
| Adam D. | Lukaku | Gomes | United | 2-1 | 4 |
| Brian F. | Lukaku | Richarlison | United | 2-1 | 4 |
| Brian L. | Tosun | Sigurdsson | Draw | 1-1 | 0 |
| Calvin | Lingard | Pickford | United | 2-1 | 5 |
| Chris | Martial | Richarlison | United | 2-1 | 4 |
| Geno | Lukaku | Sigurdsson | United | 2-1 | 4 |
| Matt A. | Lukaku | Gueye | United | 2-1 | 4 |
| Matthew C. | Richarlison | Sigurdsson | Everton | 2-1 | 0 |
| Pete | Richarlison | Richarlison | Everton | 2-1 | 0 |
| Rachel | Lukaku | Gomes | United | 2-0 | 2 |
| Sean | Lukaku | Gueye | United | 2-2 | 2 |
| Tom | Bernard | Bernard | Everton | 2-1 | 0 |
| Zach | None | Pickford | Draw | 0-0 | 1 |
There is some optimism heading into this one, but the majority of our writers still think United ultimately wins the match. Interestingly, all but one of the predicted scorelines has the match decided by one goal or less, so we at least believe that the Toffees should be quite competitive.
The most popular pick for scoring the opener is Romelu Lukaku, which...well...of course he is. What could be more Everton that watching a former player single-handedly extinguish an Everton hot streak?
The man of the match votes are pretty widely scattered, though. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Andre Gomes, Richarlison, Jordan Pickford, and Andre Gomes all picked up multiple votes. Tom is the lone writer to go outside that box, picking Bernard to take the honor.