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Everton at West Ham United: Writer Prediction League

That classic battle of “clubs that spend lots of money to pretty much stay the same as they were before”

Everton FC v West Ham United - Premier League Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

It figures that Everton’s first true big win of the season came just before the last international break of the campaign.

We’ve been waiting all season for the Toffees to break through and convert one of their solid performances against a top-six side into three points. Against Chelsea two weeks ago, Marco Silva’s men finally achieved it.

Silva and Everton now return from the international break with a trip to play West Ham United in London. The Hammers, like Everton, spent big money in the offseason looking to improve upon a bottom-half finish last season.

Also like Everton, West Ham hasn’t gotten much traction in its quest to become upwardly mobile in the table. The Hammers sit in ninth, two places and two points above Everton. If the Toffees want to make a legitimate push for seventh place then, this is a must-win match.

But the only reason the Toffees are still even in that race is the victory over Chelsea — one that feels like it was years ago now. Let’s take a look at how that surprising result impacted our predictions.

Chelsea Predictions

Writer First Scorer Everton MOTM Winner Score Points
Writer First Scorer Everton MOTM Winner Score Points
Adam B. None Keane Draw 0-0 0
Brian F. Higuain Davies Chelsea 3-1 0
Brian L. Calvert-Lewin Gomes Draw 2-2 0
Calvin Hazard Pickford Chelsea 2-1 0
Chris Higuain Gueye Chelsea 2-1 0
Geno Hazard Digne Chelsea 2-1 0
Matt A. Higuain Sigurdsson Chelsea 2-0 0
Matthew C. Pedro Gueye Draw 1-1 0
Pete Sigurdsson Gueye Draw 1-1 0
Rachel None Gueye Draw 0-0 0
Sean Higuain Gueye Everton 2-1 2
Tom Richarlison Digne Draw 1-1 1
Zach Sigurdsson Pickford Everton 1-0 2

Well, you could say that Everton’s performance and result caught us off guard. Only two writers, Sean and Zach, picked Everton to win. Tom picked up a point via Richarlison scoring the opener — but that was it for our successful predictions.

The result was a relatively unchanged prediction league 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

There was a little bit of a shuffle at the bottom of the table, but since nobody in the top half picked up even a single point, the title race remains unchanged. With a 10-point cushion and only seven games to play, it’s hard to see a way for anyone to catch Calvin.

With that said though, there’s a reasonable chance that the spend-a-lot-of-money-to-not-get-any-better derby could create some late drama in our prediction league, because we have pretty widely varying opinions on what will go down in the match on Saturday.

West Ham Predictions

Writer First Scorer Everton MOTM Winner Score Points
Writer First Scorer Everton MOTM Winner Score Points
Adam B. Anderson Digne Draw 1-1 0
Brian F. Hernandez Gomes West Ham 2-1 0
Brian L. Richarlison Gueye Everton 2-1 2
Calvin Arnautovic Gueye West Ham 3-1 0
Chris Bernard Bernard Everton 2-1 3
Geno Sigurdsson Sigurdsson Everton 3-1 2
Matt A. Hernandez Sigurdsson West Ham 3-2 0
Matthew C. Hernandez Gueye West Ham 2-0 0
Pete Anderson Gueye West Ham 2-0 0
Rachel Sigurdsson Gueye Everton 1-0 2
Sean Sigurdsson Gueye Everton 2-0 4
Tom Calvert-Lewin Pickford Draw 1-1 0
Zach Sigurdsson Gueye Draw 1-1 0

We rarely get as even a split as you see here — five Everton wins, five West Ham wins, and three draws. Javier Hernandez and Gylfi Sigurdsson are among the most popular options to open the scoring, while Idrissa Gueye is the clear favorite for Everton man of the match honors.