George:
Another intriguing Premiership clash today between the teams of Everton and Tottenham.
The Toffees are in pretty complicated condition at the moment.The team is 16th in the table with only 15 points and is dangerously close to the relegation zone.
It seems this season the multy - competition task came too much for the narrow squad f Moyes and the Scottish manager now has serious headackes with injured players.So serious that the team may be seriously involved in the fight against relegation.
Actually in the last season the team again fell into the same situation, but then they managed to cope fast and it wasn't something fatal.But now the crisis situation seems irreversible, at least at the moment.Instead of some players recovering, there are more and more names added to the injury list, after every single game played.
The team has only 1 win in the last 8 League games.In midweek Toffees clinched 1:0 win against AEK in greece that will gave them a place in the next stage of the tournament, but at what cost...
The team used to have great defence in the previous seasons, but in this one Everton conceded 25 goals in 14 games, which is terrible record.One of the causes is the departure of Lescott, but the injuies play the main part.The other rock in the defence of the team jagielka is long term injury victim.For the match today Yobo and Distin are injured and probably won't be in the squad.Heitinga is suspended and the young Gosling who may play as central defender is doubtful too.So I wonder how will look the defence of the team today?I'm sure it will be chaos there, and this against the high - flying attack of the Spurs, I don't think the result will be good for the toffees.Neville, Arteta, Vaughan, Osman and Anichebe are the other missing figures in the team for the match today.
Tottenham is 4th in the table with 26 points.The team is having great time this season, performing great, especially in attack.It reached its top 2 weeks ago in the amazing 9:1 win against Wigan.This game was followed by 1:1 draw against Villans at Villa Park.But I have to say the team from Birmingham should be happy with the point as Spurs pressed almost all the time after they conceded and were closer to the win.But in that game the defence of Villa looked good, tight, made almost no mistakes.I wonder how the experimental back formation of Everton will cope with the same situation today...
In midweek the Spurs were eliminated from Carling Cup by Manchester United, but I have to say the Red Devils made superb game in defence, mainly due to the brilliant performance of Vidic.
For the match today Woodgate and King are out, while Modric and Cudicini are long term absentees.
Usually Everton is not the easiest opponent for the Spurs, but now the Toffees are severely damaged by injuries, especially in defence, just where they need stable performance against Spurs, so I think this game will be dominated by Tottenham and they will have number of chances to score, suppose they will use some at least.
The 2 teams met earlier this season in Carling Cup clash when Tottenham won 2:0.
I bet on Away -0.25 AH.
