West Ham vs Everton prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-01-20 15:00.
The pressure couldn't be greater in both dugouts ahead of this clash between West Ham United and Everton, with David Moyes and Frank Lampard the bookmakers' two favourites to be the next Premier League (PL) manager to be sacked. It’s therefore feasible that who goes first could very much be decided by the result of this fixture, which doesn’t make good reading for Moyes, whose side are searching for successive home league wins against Everton for only the first time since 1986!
In the relegation zone ahead of the round and winless in seven PL games (D1, L6), it's easy to see why Moyes is under such scrutiny in East London. However, if Hammers fans are searching for positives, then it should be noted that they currently have the same number of points as they had at this stage of the 2013/14 campaign (15), a year they went on to finish 13th!
An added twist in this atypical tale is that Moyes is the second favourite manager to make an incredible Goodison Park return and replace Lampard at Everton. The former midfielder, and ironically ex-West Ham player, will be doing all he can to stop that happening by saving his job, but with Everton also in the drop zone and winless in seven PL matches (D2, L5), this game is balanced on a knife edge.
It’s not just on the pitch that Everton are spiralling into turmoil, off the field the Board of Directors opted not to attend last Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Southampton, citing "safety concerns" after a sit-in protest was planned by fans unhappy with the regime's running of the club. For Lampard and his team, it's therefore perhaps a blessing that this clash comes on the road, yet with no victory in their last nine PL visits to London (D3, L6), it's fair to say they'd have preferred the contest not to be taking place in the capital.
Players to watch: It's been a slow season for West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen who has bagged just two PL goals, but there’s scope to add to that having scored or assisted two of his side’s last three goals against Everton. Perhaps slightly more influential of late, Demarai Gray has been involved in each of Everton's last three league goals (G2, A1).
Hot stat: No team has scored fewer first-half PL goals than both Everton and West Ham this season (six each).