EVERTON PREVIEW

Sunderland host Everton in the Premier League following on from a shock 2-1 away win at Stamford Bridge that moved us up into the top four. Prior to a ball being kicked over the weekend, the visitors sit 14th and will be looking for a boost to their form after just one win in the last two months. If we can claim all three points, we’ll already be halfway to the usually safety-guaranteeing mark of 40 points with just 10 games played. Here’s the key information on the Toffees:

FORM

Everton have taken just four points from their last available 15. On one hand, this isn’t quite as bad as it sounds, this run does include three defeats against Champions League opposition (away to Liverpool and Manchester City and at home to Tottenham Hotspur) and their sole win ended Crystal Palace’s long unbeaten run. However, they also failed to beat West Ham United at home and, if you include games in all competitions, they lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the League Cup. So, it’s been a mixed bag so far and you can see the atmosphere in the blue half of Merseyside turning very sour if they don’t win this one, or at the very least fail to avoid defeat. Their most recent outing was a 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham.

THE MANAGER

62-year-old David Moyes is a familiar face on Wearside but there aren’t many fond memories of his singular season in charge at Sunderland. Moyes first got involved in management with Preston North End in 1998, in the same year he hung up his boots with PNE, after an 18 year career playing as a centre back. In 2000, he took them up to the First Division as champions. In 2002, he switched to Everton and would spend over a decade with the club. He narrowly missed out on the FA Cup in 2009 and took the team into European competitions on a number of occasions. The Scottish gaffer then moved to Manchester United in 2013 but his time here was far less successful, it got off to a bright start though with a Community Shield win. After this, he ended up being dismissed in April of his first season in charge. By the end of 2014 he was in Spain with Real Sociedad but would struggle again, before being given the boot. Next up, he came back to England to have a go at managing the Lads, he did even worse. Eight wins in 43 and declaring that we were in a relegation battle almost immediately after joining hasn’t left him in high-esteem amongst our fans. After taking us down, he went to West Ham on a six-month deal and successfully kept them up. In the final days of 2019, he rejoined West Ham and ended up staying for just under four and a half years this time around, with him coming away with the Conference League trophy prior to leaving. Due to a breakdown in his relationship with the fans, he allowed his contract to expire in May 2024. He’s been at Everton (again) since January 2025, winning 12, drawing nine and losing 10 so far. Moyes is a three-time winner of the LMA Manager of the Year award and has won the Premier League Manager of the Month accolade 11 times. The most important achievement he has as a player was winning a league title with Celtic in 1982.

KEY PLAYERS

Former Sunderland player (and Sunderland born) Jordan Pickford is their number one goalkeeper, he’s sure to receive a great reception from the Sunderland fans in his likely first appearance against the team he supports. Right winger Iliman Ndiaye is their current top scorer, with three goals this season. Left winger Jack Grealish has the most assists, with four so far. Grealish joined on loan in the summer and other new additions included right winger Tyler Dibling, striker Thierno Barry and attacking midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Last time out against the Blues, we lost 3-0 away from home in a League Cup match back in September 2017, our latest Premier League meeting was in February of the same year, they won 2-0. The most recent meeting between the two clubs at the Stadium of Light came in September 2016, and it’s not any more positive, we slumped to a 3-0 defeat. Our last win was the 3-0 over them at the end of the 2015/16 campaign, which of course secured our top flight status at the expense of Newcastle United. Overall, we have played the People’s Club 184 times, winning 70, drawing 31 and losing 83.

PREDICTION

This is definitely the most winnable game this month, so we need to take full advantage of it. Leeds United beat them at home too, therefore a benchmark has been set that newly promoted teams can beat Everton. I’m going to say we win 2-1, they do have enough attacking quality to put one past us but so far we’ve been spot on with picking up points at home and I see no reason to assume that is going to stop with this game.