Everton at Bournemouth: Writer Prediction League

Everton’s start to the season has given us reason to be downright... optimistic about things going forward. It’s a weird sensation, eh?

The RBM staffers carried that optimism into last week’s match against Southampton — and it turned out to be perfectly warranted, as the Toffees won 2-1 against the Saints.

With two matches upcoming this week, our writers now turn to how well Everton can maintain its solid start to the season. With an AFC Bournemouth side that struggled last season and a Championship opponent at home on the docket, we’re feeling pretty good!

But before we look ahead, let’s look back one more time at our picks from the Southampton match.

Brian L. led the way with five points — and nearly snagged a sixth, as Theo Walcott finished just behind Richarlison in our man-of-the-match voting. Brian F., Pete, and I all also picked the final score correctly.

Five writers got Richarlison right as man of the match, and Chris joined Brian in correctly guessing Walcott would open the scoring at Goodison Park.

Now two weeks into the season, we can take our first look at the Prediction League table to see how our writers are faring.

Buoyed by his perfect week against Wolves, Brian F. leads the way with Tom, Chris, and I two points behind. It’s been a tough start for most of our first-time Prediction League participants, as Geno, Matthew C., and Rachel all sit in the bottom half of the table. Pete is the only new participant to crack the top half.

It’s still very early though, and with two matches ahead this week, things could change drastically in a short period of time. Without further ado then, here are our picks for the Bournemouth match this weekend.

Bournemouth is the toughest opposition to gauge so far in this young season. The Cherries finished 12th last season, though they didn’t quite put relegation fears to bed until late in the season. They’re largely unchanged from last season’s team, but they’ve gotten off to a perfect start with wins over Cardiff City and West Ham United.

Ultimately, our writers didn’t put a ton of stock in those results, with not a single RBM staffer picking Bournemouth to win. We were pretty split beyond that though, with six picking Everton wins and seven a draw.

Our writers seem to like Cenk Tosun to open his 2018-19 account with the first goal of this match, and Richarlison to finish as Everton’s man of the match once again.

The midweek match against Rotherham United is a little easier to pick in terms of final result, but there are still one or two complexities to consider. Let’s take a look at those predictions.

All of our writers predicted an Everton victory, as you’d expect given the circumstances. But, without certainty of exactly who will play and who will rest at this early stage of the cup competition, guessing the opening goalscorer and man of the match is pretty tricky.

Four of us like rotational striker Oumar Niasse to open the scoring, but regular starters Walcott, Tosun, and Richarlison got votes too. Similarly, Kieran Dowell, Bernard, and Ademola Lookman got MOTM votes, but so did Idrissa Gueye, Tom Davies, and Walcott.

Ultimately, our success in this match might depend primarily on Marco Silva’s lineup choices!