Jamie Carragher predicts Everton vs West Ham result for Sky Sports
Jamie Carragher has backed Everton to bounce back from defeat at Liverpool by taking a point from their trip to face West Ham.
The Sky Sports pundit made his predictions for the weekend’s results on the outlet’s website on 26 October and tipped the Toffees to go to the London Stadium on Sunday (29 October) and get a 1-1 draw.
Sean Dyche heads to the capital after a controversial 2-0 defeat in the Merseyside derby, from which the fallout was dominated by debates around the officiating of Craig Pawson.
Everton have won two and lost two of their past four games and currently sit 16th in the Premier League, three points outside of the bottom three.
Reasonable
In Everton’s situation points in any form are not to be sniffed at and, notwithstanding their 4-1 thrashing at Aston Villa last weekend, West Ham have been in pretty good form this year.
The threat of a points deduction is currently hanging over the Toffees’ heads after The Telegraph reported on 25 October that the Premier League are pushing for a hefty 12-point penalty at the independent commission hearing over an alleged profit and sustainability breach.
Whether that will come to pass or not remains to be seen but it only heightens the requirement for the team to get as much on the board as possible before time starts running out late in the season.
There had been a reasonable amount of positivity generated by the 3-0 win over Sheffield United prior to the international break, but a bruising week for the club has seen the controversial loss at Liverpool followed by the death of long-time chairman Bill Kenwright and the report on a possible points deduction.
Everton could therefore use a decent result against the Hammers now as much as ever to get back on track at this stage of the campaign.
Things started spiralling out of control for both Rafael Benitez and Frank Lampard as the season headed into the dark months of late autumn and winter during each of the past two seasons so Dyche needs to ensure he doesn’t go the same way.
In other Everton news, a takeover update has emerged regarding 777 Partners in light of the points deduction threat.