Hull vs Everton

December 28, 2016
By: Milos Markovic

Everton will be looking for consecutive wins for the first time since August as they travel to struggling Hull, who are winless in last seven Premier League matches.

Rock-bottom Tigers

Things are looking rather grim for Hull City who are siting rock-bottom with only 12 points from 18 Premier League rounds. The Tigers are facing difficult relegation battle with their faith hanging on a thread as things stand at the moment. Hull City are lacking squad depth and Mike Phelan will be hopeful the club officials will sanction January transfer moves to bolster the team for the second part of the season. Hull are coming off from a difficult period in the league having gone seven games without a win. Only one draw and six defeats make for a rather disappointing patch, whereas the lack of power upfront has been just another upsetting aspect for Phelan to consider. Namely, Hull City have failed to score in any of their last three Premier League games and will have plenty of pressure on their back heading into the last match of 2016.

Abel Hernandez and Will Keane are struggling with hernia and knee problems, respectively, and will be the only first-team absentees for the upcoming game. Mike Phelan will not be able to count on Greg Luer, Brian Lenihan, Allan McGregor, Moses Odubajo and Alex Bruce who are all yet to feature this season.

Inconsistent Everton

Ronald Koeman will have hoped for a different start to his stint at Goodison but the five-match winning run at the beginning of the season turned out to be the only bright period of Everton’s season so far. The Toffees are lacking consistency in their performances and have been alternating between wins, draws and defeats for over the last ten Premier League matches. Boxing day trip to Leicester proved to be a timely boost for Koeman’s men, who fought bravely to a 2-0 win over the reigning Premier League champions. It was the first away win for Everton in over three months as Everton wrapped up a fine performance in dominant fashion. Koeman will surely hope this triumph will be enough to provide enough of a push for his side to notch consecutive league wins for the first time since September. Visitors will surely be hoping Romelu Lukaku would extend his goalscoring form to 11 Premier League goals this season. The Belgian bagged 10 goals and provided three assists to his teammates this season.

Ronald Koeman is looking for ways to overcome a number of first-team absences as James McCarthy, Yannick Bolasie, Arouna Kone, Muhamed Besic and Maarten Stekelenburg all miss out for the trip to Hull.

Verdict

There is a clear difference in quality between the two sides and we believe that Everton have enough in them to confirm the claim and record another away triumph. Hull are largely struggling up front and we don’t see them posing a real threat to inconsistent Everton, who will be keen to keep the momentum going and finish the year on a high note.

Top pick: Everton   1.92 (37/40) @BetVictor

Alternative pick 1: Both teams to score – No   1.90 (10/11) @Betfair

Alternative pick 2: Everton to win to Nil   3.00 (2/1) @Bet365

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