Everton at West Ham United: Writer Prediction League

We’ve finally made it to the end of the season, and with only one match remaining, our prediction league has a fair bit more to play for than Everton.

The Toffees toiled to a draw against Southampton last week, looking very much like a team that knew its season was effectively already over. Will this week’s trip to play West Ham United and David Moyes look the same?

Before we answer that question, let’s review our (hilariously poor) predictions from Everton’s draw against Southampton.

Our predictions for a big day for Cenk Tosun and Everton came up short -- nobody picked a draw, or the correct Southampton player to open the scoring. Only Matt got any points at all, picking up the solitary point of the week on the back of Jordan Pickford’s man-of-the-match performance.

With Southampton’s victory over Swansea mid-week, it looks as though Tom Davies’ very late equalizer won’t impact the final outcome in the Premier League, but it had a potentially huge impact on our prediction league standings. Take a look!

Mike was the lone writer to pick a Southampton win last week, and he would have gotten two points for it if not for Davies’ late (deflected) heroics. Those points would have put him six clear atop the table, all but destroying Calvin’s hopes for a comeback.

But, Davies did score and Mike did not get those points, keeping a Calvin comeback still alive.

Across the rest of the table, there are some interesting storylines as well. Tom still has a chance to climb off the foot of the table with a strong week, while an astounding six writers still technically have a chance to claim “best-of-the-rest” status with a third-place finish.

Let’s take a look at the writers’ West Ham predictions then, and see what they’ll be hoping for on the final week of the season.

In the results category, it’s a pretty mixed bag, with six Everton victories, three draws, and two West Ham victories predicted. The group is unanimous about the first scorer if he is to come from West Ham — Marko Arnautovic scored four votes. Tosun and Theo Walcott are both prominent in that category as well.

By picking West Ham, Calvin has kept his hopes of catching Mike atop the table still alive. A West Ham victory by a 2-1 scoreline, coupled with Jordan Pickford being voted man of the match would give him sole possession of first place, and consecutive victories in the RBM Writer Prediction League.