Everton at Liverpool: Writer Prediction League

When Everton traveled to Leicester City last weekend, we were pretty pessimistic. Coming off a 2-0 loss at home against Norwich City, who could blame us?

Well, the Toffees toyed with our emotions — and our predictions — for the vast majority of Sunday’s game...until Kelechi Iheanacho put the Foxes ahead at the death. It wasn’t a particularly poorly played match by Everton, especially considering the injuries facing Marco Silva, but excuses don’t really matter when you’re only two points clear of the drop zone.

And it looks like things will get worse before they get better, with a trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool ahead this Wednesday. The Reds goal differential (20) is greater than Everton’s number of points earned (14) and goals scored (also 14) this season. Bleh.

Before we torture ourselves thinking about that though, let’s torture ourselves reliving the Leicester City match.

The good news, I guess, is that most of us saw this outcome coming. Brian L. was the only writer to predict the score correctly, but nine of 12 participating writers had the Foxes winning the match.

No one had Richarlison opening the scoring, likely in part due to his unclear injury status ahead of the match. Rachel did correctly guess Djibril Sidibe would be Everton’s man of the match, however.

With that point, she’s slightly closed the gap at the top of the prediction league table.

I remain atop the table, with Rachel now just two points behind. Brian L’s big week launched him into sole possession of third place, with the Matthews close behind.

Our writers shouldn’t hold their breath for any big changes to the prediction league table this week, because the trip to Liverpool has us all approximately equally pessimistic.

Every single writer has Liverpool beating Everton on Wednesday. In fact, I’m the only one of the group that even thinks the Toffees will keep it within a goal!

As you’d expect, the Reds’ dangerous wingers, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, feature prominently in the first goalscorer category. The Senegalese attacker edged out the Egyptian by five votes to four.

Everton man of the match voting focuses primarily on defenders, usually not a great sign for the team’s attacking hopes. Lucas Digne leads the way there with four, with Jordan Pickford picking up three votes as well. Richarlison is the only other player to get multiple votes, with two.