Sky Sports host Jeff Stelling predicts major result in Everton clash with Nottingham Forest
Jeff Stelling has predicted that Everton will finally get their first win of the season when Nottingham Forest come to Goodison Park at the weekend.
An understrength side lacking a recognised striker, and with big-money signing Amadou Onana only featuring for 10 minutes, has lost the first two matches of the Premier League season, to Chelsea and at Aston Villa.
But despite Forest registering their first top flight win in over two decades last week against West Ham they are expected to not have enough when they arrive on Merseyside on Saturday 20 August.
For his Sky Sports Super6 predictions Stelling has the result down as a 2-1 home win, which will be a massive boost for Frank Lampard and his players.
Amid a defensive and striking injury crisis, and the Chelsea pursuit of Anthony Gordon, the Toffees boss badly needs a win under his belt to breed some belief for the new campaign, so the Sky man’s predicted scoreline would have major positive implications.
Springboard
Zero points from six and in need of important players might look like this season has kicked off much how most of the last one went, but that would be a harsh assessment.
The defence looks more solid with James Tarkowski and Conor Coady back there, even if Ben Godfrey and Yerry Mina are once again out injured, and if Gordon could be put back on the wing with a recognised striker in the middle there will be far more potency in attack.
Onana’s cameo at the end of the Villa game suggested that once he is accustomed to the pace of the Premier League he could be a crucial part of what happens at the club this year.
And while the opening two defeats were hardly thrashings that means nothing to the manager, or the fans, if they are not followed by better results so points are the priority.
One win at this stage could make all the difference, so if Stelling is accurate there should be a much more positive feeling around the club after the weekend.
Three points would also be the perfect way to head into the final days of the transfer window, where the top two jobs on the Everton agenda are filling the need for a striker and keeping hold of star youngster Gordon.