ENGLISH PREMIER BETTING PICK - EVERTON V WEST HAM

English Premier

2013-05-12 - Everton vs West Ham

A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter

EVERTON v WEST HAM
Football – England – Premier League
Sunday 12th May 2013 – Kickoff: 1500hrs

EVERTON

It’s sure to be an emotionally charged final home match of the season for Everton in the wake of manager David Moyes’ impending appointment to replace Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and I’m anticipating that players and fans alike will be keen to give the Scot a rousing send-off when they host West Ham on Sunday afternoon.

It’s no less than David Moyes deserves as he’s given fantastic loyal service to The Toffees and turned them around from being perennial bottom half performers to regular top half occupants of the elite league, and indeed if Tottenham really blow it and Everton win their last two matches, who knows, they could be knocking on the door of European qualification.

Everton have been in solid form in recent weeks and they’ve lost just once in their last nine which was a narrow 0-1 defeat at Sunderland who have been given a new lease of life since the appointment of charismatic manager Paulo Di Canio. Everton’s recent wins over Manchester City 2-0, Stoke City, QPR and Fulham have ensured another top half finish for the blue half of Merseyside, with, I might add, limited financial resources as Moyes has been instrumental in their success.

Everton’s home record stands at 11-6-1 31/17 and the fact that they’ve lost just once at home so far this season (1-2 to Chelsea on New Years Day), is testament to Moyes’ managerial shrewdness. Only Manchester City have lost one game also with title holders Manchester United losing a further two on their ‘noisy neighbours’.

The Toffees are also on a rich vein of form at Goodison Park having won their last five on the trot (all to nil) with an overall total of six clean sheets.

WEST HAM

Sam Allardyce’s West Ham currently sit very nicely in a comfortable mid-table position thank you very much, with a total of 43 points under their belt and more importantly eight points above Wigan Athletic, Big Sam has ensured The Hammers avoid any last day relegation jitters this season at least and they can go out and enjoy their football.

However, West Ham have racked up just two league wins from their last eight matches which was a home win over poor travelling West Brom and a 2-0 win over struggling Wigan a couple of weeks ago. Four draws from their last six has ensured West Ham have still picked up points including holding Liverpool and Manchester United to stalemates, but their form on the road has been pretty dreadful.

Just one away win from their last thirteen with an overall away record of 3-4-11 11/29 suggests they may well have difficulty in breaking down the Everton defence, particularly when you consider that West Ham have failed to score on eight different occasions, losing nine of their last thirteen in the process.

THE BETTING VERDICT:

I’m backing Everton to not only win this one but to cover the -1 goal line given their recent shut-outs at Goodison Park and a goal-shy visiting West Ham side, if Everton win by just one goal we get our stake back. Everton to win 2-0 to give Moyes a final Goodison victory...

The Statistics :

The Pick :

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