Everton v Swansea Betting Tips

These two teams have very different ambitions this season with Everton looking to push for the European spots whilst Swansea are merely looking to survive in the division.

After a flying start to the season, Everton have dropped off in recent weeks and now find themselves seventh in the league. Before the international break they were on the end of a 5-0 thrashing by title-chasing Chelsea, whilst it was mostly down to an excellent performance by Chelsea, Everton manager Ronald Koeman attempted to play a three-man defence which seriously backfired on him. I am not sure he will be trying that again.

The Toffees are now without two consecutive wins since mid-September and need to make sure they have returned fresh from the international break in order to give themselves a good chance of competing as we push into the busy festive schedule.

Whilst Everton have been relatively poor in recent weeks, they do have a very good record at home and are yet to lose at Goodison Park this season. Going up against relegation-threatened Swansea City at home will be a good chance for Koeman’s men to get their campaign back on track.

Striker Romelu Lukaku is undoubtedly the main man for the Toffees and the Belgian is currently third in the Premier League goal-scoring charts with seven to his name. Although the 23-year-old did not manage to go back and haunt his old club at Stamford Bridge last time out, Lukaku is on fire at the moment and has a good chance of scoring here. Additionally, Lukaku has scored in three out of the four home games he has been involved in this season – Goodison Park is certainly a lucky venue for the Belgian.

After sacking Italian Francesco Guidolin and bringing in American Bob Bradley, there was meant to be a bit of a change at Swansea but unfortunately things have not gone to plan with the Swans 19th and six points off safety. The former USA National Team manager is still yet to win a match with his new club and has picked up just the one point in four matches. Whilst nobody should expect instant change, there are obviously concerns over these results.

In fact, Swansea arguably put in their worst performance of the season last time out as they lost 3-1 to Manchester United. The Swans players were abject and looked like they were not even trying as United players simply played like they were training at Carrington.

Whilst he is new, these next few weeks will be vital for Bradley as his Swansea team face a number of clubs in and around them at the bottom of the table. Win those games and they have a good chance of survival. Lose, on the other hand, and they could really be struggling in a battle they are already losing quite badly.

Swansea have been terrible on the road pretty much all season and have lost all four of their matches away from the Liberty Stadium since beating Burnley away back in mid-August. Going to Everton, who are so good at home, is hardly the place to turn these fortunes around.

Overall, even though Everton have not been great recently, Swansea have been far worse and I cannot see them getting a good result at Goodison – where Everton have performed so well.

Of course the odds aren’t great on a simple Everton win, but I think a good market to look at would be the enhanced offer by William Hill of ‘Romelu Lukaku to Score & Everton to Win’ at 6/4. As previously mentioned, Lukaku has been in great form at Goodison and should put an out-of-sorts Swansea defence to the sword on the way to a comfortable victory.

A second bet to go with is ‘Everton to Win Both Halves’. As previously mentioned, I expect the home side to win very comfortably here and believe they will sweep away this rather inept Swansea side both before the break and after it.

See more Premier League tips here.