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EPL Odds: Reds, Everton Meet in Merseyside Derby

Don Aguero

by Don Aguero in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

Everton (+335) vs Liverpool (-102), Draw (+270)

It’s time for the Merseyside Derby! Liverpool (10-4-2, 34 points) will cross the street to Goodison Park to take on neighborhood rivals Everton (6-5-5, 23 points) next Monday, December 19, in the seventeenth round of the Premier League.

Liverpool are currently in second place in the Premier League, six points behind Chelsea. With Manchester United in shambles, Manchester City slipping up, and Arsenal stumbling in the last round, this may be Liverpool’s best shot at the title in a while. And it’s been a long time coming. The Reds haven’t won the league since the 1989–90 season.

Their recent 4-3 loss to Bournemouth, in which they squandered a 3-1 lead and lost the game in the final minute of extra time, definitely put a halt to their momentum, ss did a draw to fifteenth-place West Ham. But Liverpool remain the highest scoring side in the Premier League and have a handful of guys they can rely on to finish in front of goal. Their 3-0 thrashing of Middlesbrough last week was an example of the Liverpool squad at its best.

The biggest concern at the moment is the state of their goalkeeping. Manager Jurgen Klopp brought in the young Loris Karius to replace an inconsistent Simon Mignolet. But after a series of poor matches, Karius was benched for the Middlesbrough game in favor of Mignolet. Liverpool currently have a woeful defensive record and uncertainty over their last man is the last thing they need right now.

Everton are coming off a remarkable 2-1 win against Arsenal on Tuesday. The two teams fought tooth and nail up until the final minute with Arsenal throwing everything they had at the Everton goal, including goalkeeper Petr Cech. But they couldn’t find the equalizer and Everton left with the full three points, ending a five-game drought.

The 23-year-old Belgian Romelu Lukaku remains Everton’s top goalscorer. With nine goals to his name this season, Lukaku has scored almost half of Everton’s goals so far. He’s one of the most promising young strikers in the world and it makes sense for Everton to utilize him as much as they can. But it is concerning that their options are so limited.

If Everton can replicate their performance against Arsenal this weekend, then they stand a real chance at beating Liverpool. And at +335 odds, it’s a tough one to pass up.

Pick: Everton (+335)


Photo credit: “Romelu Lukaku” by Aleksandr Osipov CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.

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