Everton vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Goodison Park is the venue as Everton and Brighton & Hove Albion lock horns in a potentially high-scoring Premier League contest.

Sean Dyche’s assessment of Everton’s early season wasn’t off the mark despite his side managing just one point across the opening five Premier League rounds (D1, L4). The ‘Toffees’ have since got back on the rails with three wins in their last five league outings (L2), including a stunning 1-0 triumph at West Ham last weekend. Dyche’s bid to drag the Merseyside outfit away from the drop zone took another confidence boost in midweek League Cup action as Everton thumped Burnley 3-0 at Goodison, making it back-to-back 3-0 home wins after four consecutive one-goal margin defeats beforehand. However, the hosts must approach this fixture with cautious optimism after losing their last two home league H2Hs against Brighton via a combined score of 7-3, conceding 3+ goals on each occasion.

High scoring has been a common theme in Brighton’s recent visits to Goodison, with their last three Premier League H2Hs here featuring over 4.5 goals and both teams scoring. That’s very much in line with the visitors’ proclivities for producing highly entertaining affairs that have seen their opening ten Premier League matches average a league-high 4.1 goals per game. But after their first nine league fixtures contained over 2.5 total goals, the ‘Seagulls’ shared the spoils with Fulham last weekend in a 1-1 home draw, failing to score more than once in a second consecutive top-flight outing. Entertainment is hardly at the top of Roberto De Zerbi’s mind after his men failed to win any of their last four league matches (D2, L2), falling five points behind the top-four pace.