English FA CUP

2025-02-08 - Everton vs Bournemouth

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Everton v Bournemouth
Football: English FA Cup Fourth Round
Saturday 8th February 2025 - Kick Off 3pm

Everton

Another big home Premier League win has continued to ease the relegation concerns around Everton and David Moyes may now turn his attention to trying to end the long wait for silverware. In his first tenure as manager of the club, Everton did come close to winning the FA Cup having reached the Final before losing to Chelsea in 2009 and they have enjoyed some decent runs in the FA Cup in recent years.

The priority is still the Premier League and Everton have a big game coming on Wednesday when hosting the last League Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. The Toffees beat Peterborough United 2-0 at Goodison in the FA Cup Third Round, although Everton were dumped out here in the FA Cup Fourth Round by Luton Town twelve months ago.

Everton announced David Moyes' return just before the FA Cup Third Round win over Peterborough United and that success has begun a run of 4 wins in 5 games in all competitions, including 3 straight Premier League victories to push clear of the relegation zone. Since losing 0-1 to Aston Villa, Everton have won back to back League fixtures at Goodison Park against Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City.

Orel Mangala is expected to miss several months with an ACL injury, while the likes of Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are hoping to return at some point over the next three weeks. David Moyes could choose to rotate some of his squad with a very important fixture coming up during the week.

Bournemouth

In his relatively short time managing in England, Andoni Iraola has placed plenty of stock in helping Bournemouth achieve big results in domestic Cup competition. They were disappointingly beaten early in the League Cup at West Ham United, but Bournemouth have been in very good form over the last several weeks and the FA Cup represents a big opportunity for this club.

Losing last weekend to Liverpool will have hurt, but Iraola will be very happy with the level of performance produced by Bournemouth in that fixture. The Cherries are still very much in contention to earn a European spot through their Premier League form and Bournemouth did reach the FA Cup Fifth Round last season before a disappointing 0-1 defeat to Leicester City.

Bournemouth had been unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions before the 0-2 home defeat to Liverpool at the Vitality Stadium. The side will now try to extend their run of 6 away games unbeaten during which time Bournemouth have won 4 times, including a thumping 1-4 victory at Newcastle United most recently.

Luis Sinisterra could return to the squad this weekend, while the likes of James Hill, Adam Smith and Alex Scott are hoping to be available when the Premier League resumes next weekend.

Head to Head

Bournemouth have completed the Premier League double over Everton, including coming from 2-0 down to beat them 2-3 here in August.

Everton had won consecutive home games against Bournemouth before blowing the lead they had earned in August thanks to three late goals conceded.

Prediction

If this tie was going to be played with the week break before the Premier League resumed, you could make a case for Everton to upset the odds.

David Moyes has come back to Goodison Park and he has sparked an upturn in form that has seen Everton pull away from the bottom three, while they have won 3 Premier League games in a row following the thumping of Leicester City last weekend.

However, this is not a normal week for Everton Football Club.

Next season they could be playing in their new Stadium at Bramley Dock, but poor weather earlier in the season meant Everton were not able to host the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park back in December.

Barring another meeting in the FA Cup, it is the last time Everton will be hosting rivals Liverpool at Goodison Park and the match has been re-arranged for this Wednesday, which has to be a distraction for the players, staff and the fans.

The manager may not be able to make a host of changes, but there has to be one eye on the derby and Everton are now facing a Bournemouth team that will be keen on a FA Cup run of their own.

It was Liverpool that ended Bournemouth's strong run of form last weekend, but Andoni Iraola feels his team were a little unfortunate and there is still so much to offer encouragement to the players and fans. A strong FA Cup run would be appreciated, and the manager has picked familiar lineups for the domestic Cup competitions since arriving at the Vitality Stadium, while Bournemouth are still very much pushing for a spot in European Football next season.

Bournemouth have the attacking talent to give Everton plenty to think about and they have a clear week to focus fully on earning a spot in the FA Cup Fifth Round. This may just give them the edge and backing The Cherries to complete a hat-trick of wins over Everton this season looks the play, albeit backing them on the Asian Handicap which is returning the stake in the event of a draw in 90 minutes.