Everton: Season preview and predictions

If Jelavic can rediscover his goalscoring form of two seasons go then Everton have two genuine 10 goal a season strikers they could call upon, but both players have question marks over them. Martinez has also bought goalkeeper Joel Robles with him to Everton after he performed well for Wigan on loan last season, and one of Wigan’s better defensive players in Antolin Alcaraz, but whether signing players from a relegated club is ambitious enough for a club who finished 6th last season is questionable.

Jelavic training with Everton

One signing that fans could get genuinely excited over is that of Barcelona starlet Gerard Delofeu, who was a star performer for the Spanish under-21s at the summer European Championships. Despite his young age he should be able to bring some much needed flair to the Toffee’s midfield, and a few early season performances could see him feature prominently next season despite his young age.

Martinez is likely to stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation which served Moyes so well, despite experimenting with tactics in pre-season, which were similar to 3-5-1-1 formation played at Wigan. Everton’s midfield players seem to fit the mould of this formation with Darron Gibson and Leon Osman giving a good balance to the central midfield partnership, with one sitting allowing the other to go forwards and attack more often.

The attacking midfield three of Pienaar, Fellaini and Mirallas could be a major source of goals, with Mirallas and Pienaar both better than their six goals apiece last season would suggest.

It is hard to know what to expect of Everton as they have been the model of consistency in the past few season and their performance will either be a vindication of David Moyes, or a vindication of Martinez being linked with top jobs despite managing a team in the lower echelons of the Premier League.

Betting recommendations

With Everton being an unknown quantity it is hard to recommend much from betting purposes, but with them being strong favourites for the “Without big 6” market across the board it is clear that bookmakers still expect them to be around 7th place next season but the best priced 13/8 (Coral) still looks way too short, and is worth laying on Betfair.

With Everton having not strengthened too much it is hard to find a solid betting proposition on them as their season points total has been priced up around the mark for 52 points which is 11 points lower than last season, but such a drop is not unrealistic.

After scoring the markets for a price Coral’s 4/9 for them to beat Newcastle in season match bet looks like unbelievable value; Everton finished a huge 22 points of Newcastle last season and even allowing for a drop in performances that still looks like a total for Newcastle to overcome having not strengthened significantly, and overusing the “Europa League Hangover” excuse.

Everton to finish above Newcastle 4/9 (Coral) – 5 points (Max Bet)