This fixture sees last season’s nearly-men Tottenham Hotspur go away to Everton who are looking to improve under the stewardship of Ronald Koeman after becoming stale during Roberto Martinez’s reign at Goodison Park.
The Toffees best business this summer by a country mile was poaching manager Ronald Koeman from Southampton. The Dutchman certainly has the ability to coach at the highest level in Europe so for Everton to snap him up is a great coup. They have also made some smart moves in the transfer window in bringing in Ashley Williams from Swansea to replace John Stones, although a fair bit older, Williams is probably a better defender and passer of the ball than Stones right now.
They have also managed to secure Idrissa Gueye from Aston Villa who was one of the only players to emerge with a tiny bit of credit from Villa Park last year. The fact they have kept hold of the rest of their squad, including Romelu Lukaku (for the moment at least), is also great business. If Koeman can sure up that leaky defence, Everton should easily be pushing for the European spots this season.
Spurs, like Everton, have managed to keep their core squad together and have supplemented it with forward Vincent Janssen to provide competition for Harry Kane alongside stalwart Victor Wanyama. After coming so close to the title last year, these young Tottenham players will be even hungrier this season and will pose a threat to the big boys once more.
I anticipate this being an exciting game. The atmosphere around Goodison will be electric as Everton enter a new era under Koeman whilst Tottenham will provide entertaining football as per usual. I think this game could swing either way and am not entirely confident in picking a winner. With that in mind I have gone for Both Teams to Score at 4/5.
Either team can dictate play and create when in possession, while both sides love to break on the counter. An open, fast flowing game is likely and thus the goals should flow.
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