Everton vs Burnley: Writer Prediction League

Everton has picked up some memorable victories in the final quarter of the 2018-19 Premier League season, but the final act of Marco Silva’s debut season might instead be remembered in the long-term for the matches that got away.

On April 14, his Toffees lost 2-0 to an already-relegated Fulham side. Last week, Everton drew 0-0 against Crystal Palace, likely ending any late hopes of his side securing a Europa League spot for next season.

Of course, the unpredictable nature of all those results — losses to bottom-half teams and wins over top-six teams — has made it pretty difficult to predict Everton’s fate. That was true for a fair number of our writers last week.

Six writers had the final result right, though none predicted a 0-0 scoreline. As such, no one had the opening goalscorer right either.

Midfield stalwart Idrissa Gueye was voted Everton’s man of the match, earning a point for Calvin, Geno, Sean, and Tom.

Calvin’s point — along with Adam and Rachel’s relatively quiet weeks — may well have cast the final die in our prediction league standings.

Calvin now sits eight points clear of Rachel and nine of Adam with two matches to play. With our scoring system, the most number of points any writer can attain before the season ends is 12, meaning that it’ll take nearly a perfect performance — and multiple misses from Calvin — for a changing of the guard atop the table.

The first chance to make up the deficit comes on Friday, when Everton hosts Burnley. It’s been a disappointing season for Sean Dyche’s squad, which finished seventh last season. Burnley got bounced in the final Europa League qualifying round, and it’s pretty much been all downhill from there.

A couple of results against Bournemouth and Cardiff in recent weeks secured Premier League safety, but Burnley still sits in 15th.

As a result, our predictions are relatively uniform.

Historically, Everton has not fared particularly well when all of our writers pick the Toffees to win, so brace yourself for disappointment.

As usual, Richarlison is a popular choice for opening goalscorer and Everton man of the match. Gylfi Sigurdsson is also a frequent choice for both categories.