ONCE IN A BLUE MOON: Moyes couldn’t hide his delight at Everton’s great start to the season (pic: Inpho)
By Aidan Elder | Chief sports writer
West Bromich Albion v Everton
Saturday 3pm – The Hawthorns
On account of the hiding West Brom gave Liverpool on the opening day of the season, hopes of a quick-fire Merseyside double will be high. Sadly for Baggies fans adopting that theory, apart from the fact that Everton share a similar patch of the earth with their city rivals, the two have little in common at the moment. The Toffees are bristling with confidence and goalscoring prowess, Liverpool have all the attacking threat of a sleepy Buddhist monk.
That’s not to take away from the Baggies who have started well under Steve Clarke. They could have scored more than three against Liverpool and showed more than enough about them at White Hart Lane to feel it wasn’t just a fluke. The bulk of the team that did so well last season remains in place and Romelu Lukaku has shown he’s a very promising addition to the squad.
After great performances against Manchester United and Aston Villa, Everton went and did the impossible by making me take notice of a game in the second round of the league cup. They were fully expected to beat Leyton Orient, but the manner of the trouncing and two debut goals from Kevin Mirallas made it very interesting. Of course it was against a League One side, but with Marouane Fellaini playing the way he is, any sort of in-form striker will do damage and with Jelavic and Mirallas, Everton have a couple of those.
I’m tempted to predict a narrow win for someone, but I’m reluctant to pin my colours to the mast so for that reason a draw looks like a likely outcome.
The ‘I don’t like giving predictions’ prediction: Jelavic to score in 90 minutes at 7/4
