Everton - Manchester United: counting goals

On December 23, Everton and Manchester United face off to reach the English League Cup semi-finals. Will the clash at Goodison Park have a lot of goals? MetaReviews has prepared their predictions for the game.

Everton
Carlo Ancelotti’s work has gradually begun to bear fruit. Everton are having an excellent season in the Premier League, justifiably claiming a place in the European competitions. The Toffees are now in fourth place in the league table after the last season’s fixture.

The Liverpool side are now on a streak of three straight wins. It started with a home game against Chelsea (1-0) and continued with an away clash with Leicester (2-0). On 19 December, the Toffees overcame the struggling Arsenal (2-1) at home, securing their eighth win in the league.

Everton’s journey in the English League Cup began in the round of 32, where the team easily beat Salford (3-0). In the next two stages, the Liverpool team beat Fleetwood in an away clash (5-2) and West Ham (4-1) at home. Allan, Fabian Delph, Lucas Dinge and Jean-Philippe Gbamin will not play for the home side due to injury. Midfielder James Rodriguez is still in doubt.

Manchester United
Manchester United can also take credit for the first part of this season, apart from their Champions League performance. There, the lethal encounter for the Mancunians in the last round of the group stage was a 2-3 defeat to Leipzig and a third-place finish in group H, letting the Bulls and PSG go ahead.

In the Premier League, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team are in the championship race. Following the results of the last round, Manchester United secured the third position in the standings, lagging behind the second Leicester and the first Liverpool by one and five points, respectively. The Red Devils’ attack excelled at home against Leeds (6-2) and, before that, against Sheffield United (3-2).

Manchester United’s journey in the English League Cup began in the round of 16. At this stage, Solskjaer’s players easily beat Luton Town (3-0), and in the next round, they defeated Brighton with a similar score. Only two players, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo, are still out of action.

Statistics
● In three of the past five meetings between the teams, no more than three goals have been scored
● In four of Everton’s previous five matches, the odds have been on TU 2.5
● Manchester United have won eight of their previous 10 away matches in all competitions
● Everton have not scored more than three goals in their last three home games

Personal meeting
03/01/20 Everton Manchester United 1:1
12/15/19 Manchester United Everton 1:1
04/21/19 Everton Manchester United 4:0
10/28/18 Manchester United Everton 2:1
01/01/18 Everton Manchester United 0:2

Prediction
The bookmakers favour the visitors in this game. But Everton have proven with their recent matches that they are ready to compete with the favourites in the APL championship race, and in cup competitions, the leaders’ position is very often levelled.

After difficult matches in the Premier League, the physical functionality of the teams may be far from ideal. Given that the Toffees have been reliable in defence in recent games, we don’t expect a goal-scoring show in this game.

Thus, suggest you to bet on Total Under 3 scores. There is still an opportunity to catch pretty nice odds, hurry up!