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Paul Merson predicts Everton scoreline v West Ham United at Goodison Park
Paul Merson believes that Everton will draw 1-1 with West Ham United at Goodison Park this weekend as the Toffees look to build on their point against Liverpool.
Everton have had an extended break since their last Premier League match after their game against Arsenal was postponed due to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
David Moyes’ side also saw their fixture postponed, but have had two UEFA Conference League fixtures to deal with.
Merson feels that due to West Ham’s inconsistent start to the season, a draw is the most likely outcome.
Writing in his Sportkeeda game week predictions column (15 September), Merson said: “It might be a ridiculous thing to say, but I appreciate what Frank Lampard has done as Everton manager so far. They are getting harder to beat and he’s got his team working hard, which is only a good sign.
“Everton got a great result against Liverpool in the Merseyside derby – they just have to hang in there and keep fighting it out to get points on the board.”
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He added: “Anthony Gordon was wanted by Chelsea this summer, but that was under Thomas Tuchel and Everton rejected massive amounts of money from the Blues to keep him at the club.
“I think he’ll stay at the club this season – I refuse to believe they’ve kept him this summer only to sell him midway through the season!
“West Ham haven’t had the best start to the season and have been really hard to predict, so I think this game will end all square. Everton 1-1 West Ham United.”
Hard to predict
Merson is right in his suggestion that this game is hard to predict with West Ham struggling to find any consistency in their performances at the moment.
The Hammers could turn up and put in a promising display as they did against Chelsea, or they could be abject as they were against Brighton.
Ultimately, Frank Lampard will be looking for his side to continue their solid early season form, which has seen Everton’s defence look transformed from the back end of the 2021/22 season.
Any successful side will be built on a solid foundation and Lampard has made sure that his side won’t concede many goals before addressing the attacking side of the game.
He has plenty of attacking talent at his disposal and there should be no reason why it won’t start to click for the likes of Anthony Gordon and Neal Maupay in the coming weeks.
When Dominic Calvert-Lewin is back to full fitness, Evertonians could really start to see this side improve after what has been a difficult year for everyone associated with the club.
Lampard does have a couple of selection headaches heading into this one with Jordan Pickford out of action.