Everton vs Bournemouth prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-10-06 14:00.
Following the shock 2-1 defeat at home to Luton Town this past weekend, frustrated Everton manager Sean Dyche lamented he felt like his side were constantly in a scenario of “one step forward, two steps back”. He’ll undoubtedly be referring to the fact his team dominated another contest – registering a season-high 23 shots on goal while conceding just two efforts on target – but again left empty-handed.
The loss came on the back of two wins on the road at Brentford in the Premier League (PL) and then Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup, highlighting the stark contrast between the Toffees’ home form and away from Goodison Park. The reverse against Luton made it four straight home defeats to start a league season for just the second time in their history, and the Merseysiders now risk becoming just the fifth English top-flight team ever to lose their opening five home league matches.
It’s now just one PL home win in nine for Everton, but that success did come against upcoming opponents Bournemouth in May (1-0). That contributed to the Cherries’ current rotten run of no league win in 11 matches (D3, L8), which is the longest active streak of its kind in the competition. This might concern boss Andoni Iraola, who arrived in the summer and stated that last Saturday’s 4-0 home defeat to Arsenal was “the weakest” team performance under him thus far.
That defeat saw Iraola register the joint-longest winless run to start a PL career by a Spanish manager, sharing the unwanted feat with ex-West Bromwich Albion boss Pepe Mel in 2013/14. Mel did win his eighth game in charge, but to replicate that, Iraola will need to mastermind a plan to end a H2H quirk that has seen the home side on the day win ten of the last 12 meetings between these two, including each of the last three.
Key battle: Dominic Calvert-Lewin is looking to score in four consecutive competitive appearances for the first time since October 2020. One of the players trying to keep him quiet will be Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez, who has made 12 tackles from opponents’ attempted dribbles this season, a figure only bettered by three PL players ahead of the upcoming round of fixtures.
Hot stat: Dyche has beaten no side more than Bournemouth in his managerial career (W7, D2, L3), a trend which includes victories in the last five PL H2Hs.