Paddy’s Preview: Sunderland vs Everton

The Toffees must wish they could play Sunderland every week as they take an unbeaten 19 game run to the Stadium of Light on Saturday and are 6/5 with Paddy Power to claim all three points.

Arsene Wenger didn’t appreciate the ‘physical’ side to Everton’s deserved 0-0 draw at the Emirates on Tuesday night but the result extended the unbeaten run in the Barclays Premier League to six – four wins and two draws.

Manager David Moyes didn’t mince his words when told of the Gunners’ boss reaction afterwards saying: “Do you mean when we were a little bit rough with the tackling? Up north we do that quite often. That’s actually allowed in football.

“We weren’t going to come here and let Arsenal stroke the ball around and make 600 tackles.”

Moyes’ side were 2-0 winners in this fixture last season with Nikica Jelavic and a David Vaughan own-goal confirming the points for the blue half of Merseyside. Paddy Power bet 9/1 that this scoreline is repeated at the weekend.

The Croat was also on the mark in the 2-1 at Goodison Park earlier this season when the Toffees battled back from a goal down thanks to a Marouane Fellaini equaliser before his team-mate grabbed the winner.

Everton are 11/1 to come from behind and win while Jelavic is 6/1 to get the first goal of the game or 2/1 to score at anytime while Belgian international Fellaini is 7/1 to get the last goal in the tie.

The Toffees to win and Jelavic to score at anytime is 7/2 in Paddy Power’s Wincast betting while the Croatian international to score first and Everton to win 2-0 is 33/1 in the Scorecast market with the online firm.

Everton have scored 10 goals and conceded just three in their last six games – keeping four clean sheets in the process.

Tim Howard is 13/8 to keep another clean sheet on Saturday while the visitors are 13/5 with Paddy Power to win to nil against Paolo di Canio’s team.

Steven Pienaar breached the Arsenal back four a couple times on Tuesday but couldn’t get a clean strike on goal and is 9/1 to score first for his side on Saturday.

Teenager Ross Barkley nearly broke the deadlock against the Gunners in just in his second game of the season before being replaced by Jelavic in the 76th minutes and is 18/1 to get the first goal of the game against the Black Cats.

Sunderland will be buoyed after ending a nine-game winless run in the 3-0 victory over Newcastle in the Tyne-Wear derby last Sunday.