Bookie Preview vs Wigan

It’s hard to shake off the feeling that last weekend was two points dropped rather than one point earned.

But if we wanted to spend our time mired in pessimism talking about how close we were to victory then we’d move to Scotland. You don’t always get what you deserve and that’s a fact we’ve been acutely aware of since Piers Morgan was handed a lucrative career in television.

There was a lot to like about how Everton performed against Villa. They moved the ball well, created chances and probably should have put enough distance between themselves and their visitors to make them impervious to the late sucker punch. Still though, after the low level mugging at Ewood Park prior to the international break that just about evens up the score on the Toffee’s football karma front.

If the footballing gods have reset the luck counter to zero, you’d fully expect Everton to prevail at home to Wigan. After a stuttering start to the season, the Villa game suggested that things are coming together nicely. Despite their efforts not getting the maximum return, the signs were positive and the confidence should mean that Everton have too much for a Wigan team whose performances could be described as being comparable to a character in a Robert Louis Stevenson novel.

Losing to Man City is something a lot of teams are going to have to get used to this season, but Everton can surely take heart from the way in which Wigan crumbled. Wigan had the full house of defensive deficiencies – no aerial authority, slow to react to through balls and general ill-discipline – and it was only a string of excellent Ali Al Habsi saves prevented the need for the City of Manchester Stadium scoreboard going to double-digits. Sure they’re not going to play Man City every week, but you get the impression the Toffees won’t need to play like the billionaires to get some joy out of the Latics rear-guard.

Leon Osman – possibly the most under-rated English player in the league at present – took his chance very well against Villa and aside from the goal, he put in a typically hard-working and dynamic display last week and he’s worth looking at for a 1st Goalscorer bet at 8/1. With home advantage, you would expect Everton to have enough abut them to when and possibly with a degree of comfort. Everton to win 3-1 at 12/1 is something to bear in mind.

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