Paul Merson has predicted that Everton will finish the Premier League season in defeat as they travel to Tottenham on the final day.
The Sky Sports pundit spoke on how Everton have had an upturn in form in previous weeks but that the game hinges on the fact that Marco Silva’s men struggle when they don’t play in-front of their own fans.
Speaking on his Sky Sports prediction column, Merson said: “You’re playing against a good Everton team here, who have turned a corner but they were getting beaten at Newcastle and Fulham a few weeks ago.”
“Everton aren’t as good on the road as they have been at home so I think Spurs will sneak it. 2-1”
Everton lost the reverse fixture at Goodison Park 6-2 in a crazy afternoon where they actually took the lead before collapsing massively either side of half-time.
OPINION
This will be a tricky fixture for Everton but they can take great motivation from the fact that Tottenham will have had an exhausting week. Spurs winning against Amsterdam will also add the incentive of a Champions League final for the home side whereas Everton will go there on the final day knowing that this is their final game and will want to go out on a win after a great couple of months. Merson is definitely right when saying they are a much better side at home though and they have beaten three of the top six in the past couple of months in front of their home fans. The damning recognition is that despite those great wins, they have also lost away at already relegated Fulham in that time period too. Everton have looked much better going forward in recent weeks and will look a threat on the counter attack with Spurs looking leaky at the back in the same time period. With the absence of the suspended Heung Min Son, Everton could have a much better chance at keeping the home side at bay in front of goal and try to steal the game on the counter attack, if they can take advantage of the spaces in Tottenham’s final third they could easily pick up the three points.