Southampton host Everton on Sunday for a curious and potentially enthralling encounter in front of the television cameras in the Premier League.
It has added interest because Ronald Koeman, the Everton boss, left Southampton to take charge at Goodison in the summer.
A glance at the league table suggests he did the right thing. Everton are seventh, five points ahead of the Saints. But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Koeman’s Everton have collapsed in recent weeks. They have one win in eight. This after winning five of their first six matches.
Normally such a run is referred to as the honeymoon period. When results go the other way, the media delight in trotting out the cliché that ‘the honeymoon is over’.
The irony about this is that Southampton are a club who have rendered the idea that the manager is numero uno – and indeed honeymoon periods – redundant. It doesn’t matter who is in charge (Pochettino, Koeman), they keep rolling on.
Nor does it matter who plays for them, it seems. They have sold a host of expensive, nurtured talent. But they have a production line. Southampton are the club that has never stand still. In fact, they are the complete opposite of Everton, pre-Koeman at least. A staid, underachiever happy to settle for survival each year.
We find Saints admirable. But that doesn’t mean we should bet them at 2.2 among Green Listed Bookmakers like Bet365, Boylesports, BetVictor and William Hill, even if they have lost only to Chelsea in 16 home games. Their form has actually been rather patchy.
After a 3-0 romp at West Ham, it looked as though they were about to find another gear. But that was 11 games ago (all competitions), and they have won only three times since then. West Ham may have made them look better than they were.
Draws at Manchester City and at home to Liverpool are impressive but their performance against Hull, where they lost 2-1 last time out in the league, was a shocker. They dominated but couldn’t finish and suffered a sucker punch.
This will give Everton heart. If they stay in the game, Saints could become edgy, wary of another missed opportunity. It is worth noting that against the Reds, Southampton didn’t have a shot on target – the first time that’s happened since 2004.
So Everton at 3.75 with 888Sport might appeal. We actually like the draw here at 3.5 (Betfred), wary that Everton have won only on the road in 11 in the league. The 2.09 about Everton with +0.25 on the Asian with BetVictor is another price that catches the eye.
A 1-1 draw is 7 with BetVictor and William Hill. A 2-2 stalemate comes in at 18 with William Hill. Romelu Lukaku, always a fancy for a goal, has failed to score in 13 of his last league appearances away.
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