Sports Blog 13/12/2016: Premier League Preview – Everton vs Arsenal, Tuesday 13th December 2016

Can Arsenal keep up their title push with a mid-week victory over Everton, at 7.45pm on BT Sport 1?

In 24 games all competitions the Gunners have lost just twice this season, their opening day defeat against Liverpool and their EFL Cup-exiting result against Southampton. They’ve been in especially fine form in December: kicking off with a 5-1 humiliation of West Ham at the Olympic Stadium, Arsenal followed that up with a 4-1 victory in Basel and, most recently, a 3-1 home win against Stoke.



That run has seen 2 hat-tricks, for Alexis Sanchez and Lucas Perez who sit at Super Mega PGMs of 36-42 and 22-27 respectively, a 10th goal of the season for Theo Walcott (at 28-34) and a couple more strikes for the increasingly prolific Mesut Ozil (at 18-22). It is a sign of Arsenal’s new found strength that Arsenal currently have the second best front line in the Premier League – their 36 goals just 1 less than Chelsea’s tally – without much input from last season’s top scorer Olivier Giroud (who heads into Tuesday night at 39-46).

Everton, meanwhile, aren’t having the kind of season the Toffees would have hoped for after they snatched Ronald Koeman from Southampton. Things started well enough, with an opening draw against Tottenham followed by 4 wins on the trot. However, since the end of September Everton have floundered, racking up just 1 league victory in 10 games, a period that has seen Koeman and co. accrue just 7 points.

Most recently the Toffees threw away the lead at Watford, with a Romelu Lukaku opener and closer failing to prevent the Hornets winning 3-2. The Belgian forward has been a silver lining for Everton, his 9 goals leaving him with a Super Mega PGM of 30-36; the only worry is, if Lukaku’s form continues to improve as the Toffees’ declines, he may not stay at Goodison Park much longer.

Though the Toffees have shown their quality in fits and starts it is hard to see beyond an away win, with Spreadex offering an Arsenal/Everton (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.5-0.7 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.8-3.