Last Result:
Everton 4-0 Yeovil (Aaron Lennon (1st goalscorer), Ross Barkley, Arouna Kone (2))
Stevenage 0-4 Stoke (Peter Crouch (1st goalscorer, 3) Phil Bardsley)
Kick Off: 15:00, 27/05/16
Stadium: Goodison Park
Head-to-heads: Stoke 0-3 Everton, Everton 3-4 Stoke, Stoke 2-0 Everton, Everton 0-1 Stoke, Stoke 1-1 Everton
Injuries:
Everton: Out – Muhamed Basic, Seamus Coleman, Matthew Pennington
Doubtful – Tyias Browning
Stoke: Out – Ibrahim Afellay, Stephen Ireland
Doubtful – Jack Butland, Glen Johnson, Xherdan Shaqiri
Recommended Bets:
- * Over 1.5 first-half goals @ 19/10
- * Both teams to score @ 87/100
- * Will any team win by exactly one goal difference? – Yes @ 27/20
Key Stats:
- All five of Ronald Koeman’s past managerial meetings with Mark Hughes were decided by a margin of one goal either way.
- Stoke have kept two clean sheets in their last 20 Premier League games, with the last one coming 13 matches ago.
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A look at Everton’s betting odds
The Toffees’ 3-4 home loss to Stoke in December so typified their rank disorganisation under Roberto Martinez last season that the fact that they avenged that defeat with a 3-0 win at the Britannia Stadium in February feels all but forgotten.
Everton are 3/4 favourites in the match betting largely on the basis of the latter result it seems, having looked solid rather than spectacular so far under new manager Koeman, yet still conceded in both league games so far.
Romelu Lukaku’s penalty kick-started the aforementioned Britannia redemption and the big Belgian looks the go-to guy in the any-time goalscorer betting @ 13/10 as he seeks his fourth strike in his last three outings against the Potters.
It would be little surprise if he notched as part of an action-packed opening half, as four of the Merseysiders’ last five league games have seen at two goals bagged before the interval.
Over 1.5 goals in the first-half odds of 19/10 are more than fair reward for risking that the trend continues.
A look at Stoke’s betting odds
After beating Everton to nil home and away in 2014/15, Stoke promptly forgot how to shut them out last term, shipping three times in both of their meetings. After keeping two clean sheets in their final 18 league games of 2015/16, they’re yet to record a top-flight shut out in the new campaign.
With the Toffees in the same boat, 87/100 in the both teams to score betting is not to be scoffed at, a wager given added credence by the Potters’ boss Hughes’ head-to-head record with home manager Koeman.
Three of their last four duels have seen both keepers’ clean sheet bonuses scotched. All five dugout encounters between the two former Barcelona men have seen one or other side win by a one-goal margin.
Odds of 27/20 about their latest meeting being decided by the odd strike might just be the pick of the Everton v Stoke betting.
