Everton vs West Ham Preview: Goal contributions, defensive duels and more – what do the stats say? | OneFootball

Everton and West Ham United will both seek a return to winning ways when they go against each other at Goodison Park on Sunday in the eight gameweek of the Premier League. Everton sit three points and four places clear of West Ham in the Premier League table but the Toffees have a number of injury concerns to key players that could have a massive impact on Sunday’s result at Goodison Park. The Toffees fought back to take a point from their clash with Manchester United before the international break, while the Hammers fell to defeat against Brentford.

Rafa Benitez has overseen four wins and two draws from his opening seven games in charge to send Everton on fifth place in the table. They are one of the four sides sitting on 14 points and will look to secure all three points to climb higher up the table. Everton went behind in the first half after Anthony Martial scored his first of the season, but new boy Andros Townsend continued his hot form with an equaliser after a sweeping second-half counter-attack.

Everton have scored 13 goals so far in the league and have had a decent goalscoring record so far. Abdoulaye Doucoure and Andros Townsend have been the major contributors to the goals they have scored. Doucoure has six goal contributions with two goals and four assists while Townsend has five goal contributions with three goals and two assists. Both of them played a part in the goal that they scored against Manchester United recently.

While Doucoure has been a key figure for the Toffees in the final third of the pitch, he has also highly contributed to the defensive work done by his team alongside Allan. The midfield duo have attempted the most defensive duels together and recovered possession of the ball for their team. It will be an interesting battle to watch them go against Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, who are also one of the strongest midfield duos in the league.

With only one win to boast from their last five in the Premier League, David Moyes’s side have now dropped to ninth in the rankings and are three points behind their fifth-placed opponents as things stand, but 14 goals scored is by far the highest outside of the top five.

West Ham have scored 14 goals in their seven games and have averaged an xG of 1.88 per game. The Hammers have only failed to score a goal on one occasion this season and have been a constant threat in front of the opposition goal. Their striker, Michail Antonio has been in top form and has been involved in eight goals for his team, with five goals and three assists.

Everton predicted starting lineup: Pickford, Godfrey, Mina, Keane, Digne, Townsend, Doucoure, Allan, Gordon, Gray, Rondon.

West Ham United predicted starting lineup: Fabianski, Coufal, Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma, Antonio.

Everton boast a perfect record of three wins from their first three home games of the Premier League season and will want to maintain their perfect record. West Ham, on the other hand, have a good record away from home and are unbeaten in their last five away games in the league. The two sides have been delighted with their start to the season and both will be equally confident that they can pick up three points in this one.