How Everton can beat Huddersfield this weekend
This weekend’s Premier League action sees Everton travel to the Kirklees Stadium to take on David Wagner’s Huddersfield Town. We take a look at how the Blues can beat them on Saturday.
Everton are in that twilight zone of the league at the moment, neither in danger of relegation or likely to qualify for Europe next season.
And I think this fact is reflected in the team’s performances at the moment.
In the game against Newcastle the Blues were sluggish and laboured and I think that at least some of the players are turning their thoughts to the summer and next season.
It was a very disappointing game and just underlined all the problems Everton have to address if they are to become truly competitive again.
In particular the match highlighted how much the Blues need to massively improve their pace, movement, creativity and firepower if they are to have any hope of troubling the better sides in the league.
The Blues next opponents Huddersfield are still very much in the fight for survival. They sit in 16th place, six points above the drop zone and are still desperately in need points as the race to avoid relegation hots up.
So once again Everton are playing a team that technically has more at stake in the game than the Blues do.
Not surprisingly given their position this season, Huddersfield have struggled in most of their matches and the statistics reflect this.
The Yorkshire club have conceded 54 goals, (actually exactly the same number as the Blues), while they have scored just 27.
Huddersfield are also struggling for form at the moment although they are coming off a crucial 1-0 win over Watford last weekend. They are stronger at home and it will be home form that will give Huddersfield a chance to stay up.
However amongst their weaknesses they are having particular difficulty holding onto the ball in common with all the teams struggling in the league and are very vulnerable to the counter attack.
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These are all things that Everton can try to exploit although the Blues have also found keeping possession difficult and Huddersfield are adept at stealing the ball back.
Everton are likely to find Huddersfield will come out strongly and try to get a goal quickly as they are good at protecting a lead once they have it.
But Huddersfield find it very hard to avoid individual errors and have a tendency to foul in and around their own box, all things which so often lead to goals.
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Overall then this is a very winnable match for Everton and while points don’t necessarily mean a great deal in the context of the league, positive winning momentum is important for the Blues to carry into the off-season.