Paul Merson predicts result of Everton Premier League clash v Wolves
Paul Merson has made his prediction for the Premier League clash between Everton and Wolves this weekend at Goodison Park.
The Toffees have had a horror start to the campaign with back-to-back defeats against Fulham and Aston Villa without scoring a goal, while Wolves have lost to both Manchester United and Brighton with very differing performances.
And Merson, speaking to Sportskeeda (24 August), believes this is a “huge” game for both teams and has tipped Sean Dyche’s side to make home advantage count by taking a close victory.
“This is a huge game. I wasn’t shocked by Everton’s result against Aston Villa,” he said.
“Dominic Calvert-Lewin is injured again, and I don’t know how Everton can score a goal. They’re good at set-pieces, but their forwards struggled to score goals for them last season.
“If both teams play the way they did in their first games of the season, this one should be a cracker. I think the odd goal could win this game. The team that loses this match is in for a long season – I have no doubt about that.
“I had both these teams in the relegation zone at the start of the Premier League season and two weeks on, nothing has changed. Everton might be able to get to Wolves if they play at a high tempo, and I think they have a slight upper hand this weekend. Everton 1-0 Wolves.”
Must win
It’s very simple at this point for Everton – we have to win our home games against the teams around us.
Last season our home form wasn’t good enough and yet ultimately it was the reason stayed up, along with that freak win over Brighton on the road.
But Wolves are a team that are there to be beaten with a new manager and a much weaker squad than last year and if we can’t beat them at Goodison Park then there will be big problems for the upcoming season.
We need to find a way to score goals without Dominic Calvert-Lewin and outside of set-pieces if we want a chance of staying up and this is the perfect game to do that.
The crowd will be electric, the players will be right up for it and we have all the ingredients to go and get a result. Use our advantages and make it ugly for them and go and get a result to ease some of the pressure on the team and management.
In other Everton news, advanced talks on for new striker amid £22.2m bid.