Everton vs Bournemouth: Writer Prediction League

It’s funny how quickly things can change in football.

Just a month and a half ago, Everton and AFC Bournemouth both looked to have a genuine opportunity to bypass Manchester United in the Premier League table, jump into sixth place, and almost assuredly secure a ticket to the Europa League next season.

Fast forward to the present — the teams have combined for just four wins out of 19 matches in all competitions since December 1, with one of those victories Everton’s uncertain triumph over League Two Lincoln City in the FA Cup last weekend.

In that span, Bournemouth dropped out of both the League Cup and FA Cup, and the teams sit in 11th and 12th place on 27 points, with Everton ahead on superior goal differential.

Those dueling runs of poor form complicate the process of making predictions ahead of this one — or at least that’s what I expected heading into the week. But before we look ahead, let’s torture ourselves by taking a look back at our predictions from the abysmal festive period.

Nobody had Theo Walcott opening the scoring, nor the correct final scoreline — and that’s enough said about the Tottenham Hotspur match.

Ah yes, the Burnley match — when everything still looked salvageable. As you might suspect, no one had Yerry Mina opening the scoring, nor a 5-1 final scoreline (though Chris did have the final margin of victory correct!). Left-back and French deity Lucas Digne was the man of the match from this one, which nobody got right either.

A lesser man would brag about the fact that I was the only person to take any points away from this match — a better man wouldn’t have brought attention to it at all.

Everton’s home loss to Leicester caught us all by surprise, though two writers did have Jamie Vardy opening the scoring.

With all the points from those matches now tallied, let’s take a look at the standings for our writers.

My five-pointer from the match against Brighton and Hove Albion provided the fuel for the only major move in the table over the holiday period. Calvin holds a six-point lead atop the table as we move into the second half of the season.

All that now brings us back to this week’s match against Bournemouth. Neither team is playing well, which made me suspect that our writers would be somewhat split on this match. But, the combination of Everton bias and home advantage has led to a relatively lopsided set of predictions.

Everton to win remains our most common prediction, with a few draws and one Bournemouth win as well. The group still seems skeptical that any Everton player besides Richarlison can be relied on for goals — the Brazilian is easily the favorite to opening the scoring against the Cherries.