Premier League: Make or Break for Toffees and Tricky Trees

Everton vs Nottingham Forest

As things get heated up at the top of the Premier League table, a storm is brewing at the bottom of the standings as well.

While Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal continue to claw their way week after week to clinch the league title, clubs like Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Luton Town fight for their lives in the relegation zone.

Burnley and Sheffield United might be two of the Premier League 2024 odds favourites to get relegated by the end of the season, but the last club to join the bottom three has yet to be determined.

Two of the relegation candidates, Everton and Nottingham Forest, will lock horns in what will be a pivotal top-flight bout. The Toffees boast just one league point ahead of Nottingham Forest, and both are still in the thick of the fray for relegation.

A win against a fellow relegation candidate will serve as great leverage in the standings moving forward, so expect both teams to give a spirited attempt this weekend at Goodison Park.

Talking Points

Can Everton bounce back from the Cole Palmer special?

The Toffees garnered much-needed points during their home game against Burnley two weeks ago. It wasn’t a graceful victory, but Everton will take every point they can tally given their circumstances.

In that match, Burnley dominated in possessions and passing, but they evidently lacked the firepower to compete against the Toffees, a problem they’ve been facing all season long.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the sole goal of the match right before halftime, which was more than enough for Everton to secure the win and the three points.

Fresh from a win and with a bounce to their step, the Toffees marched to Stamford Bridge to face Poch and the budding Chelsea squad. The Toffees hoped for a competitive showing, like what they produced during their tie with Burnely, but little did they know, Cole Palmer decided to have the match of his career that night.

What might be the best Premier League 2024 highlights of Chelsea’s season is that their ace, Cole Palmer, produced a rare poker. Yup, not one, not two, not three, but four goals. Thanks to this performance, Palmer finds himself leading the Premier League Golden Boot race alongside Erling Haaland with 20 goals in the season thus far.

The historic match ended with a 6-0 score line. It was a night to remember for Chelsea and their fans, but it was the last thing a relegation-candidate squad like Everton would want to endure.

The Toffees didn’t just fail to garner points against Chelsea; their pride and morale surely took a hit as well. Confidence and form are vital for all of the outfits in the league, but especially for clubs like Everton, who are treading right above the relegation zone.

Luckily for the Toffees, they’ll face a struggling Forest squad for their next tie, the perfect adversary after enduring the Cole Palmer special.

Forest denied by Matheus Cunha

Forest had a chance to overtake the Toffees in the league table when they faced Wolves at City Ground last weekend.

A win against Gary O’Neil and his Wolves wouldn’t just propel themselves over Everton in the standings; it would also give them space to breathe from the relegation zone to boot.

It was a very competitive match between Forest and Wolves, where each club had ample attempts at the opposite goal.

Forest’s final third was pretty accurate that night, garnering nine shots on target, but Wolverhampton displayed, in its truest essence, the saying ‘quality over quantity’.

Wolves were so efficient that they only needed one man to keep the struggling host from garnering all three points.

Matheus Cunha singlehandedly kept Wolves in the game as he scored a brace to level 2-2 with Forest and leave City Ground with one point apiece.

This draw, in retrospect, was a huge blow to Nottingham Forest, as they let the chance to move a few places up from the relegation zone slip through their fingers.

But to give credit where credit is due, that one garnered point moves them out of the bottom three, forcing Luton Town to slip to the relegation zone, trailing Forest by just one point.

History

For almost three decades, Everton and Nottingham Forest have faced each other a total of 10 times. In those games, Everton have bossed Forest with five wins, while the Trees only have two wins and three tallied draws.

In their most recent match, Everton slithered their way to a 0-1 victory at City Ground thanks to Dwight McNeil’s heroics.

Betting Tip

Based on their recent form, the odds at SBOTOP have no clear favourite to win this Premier League clash. Everton are the slight favourites at 2.07, while Nottingham Forest are the slim underdogs at 3.26 with a draw price of 3.21.

Everton and Forest have struggled offencively all throughout the season, which is why my betting tip is total goals under 2.50 with a succulent odds price of 2.03.

 

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