Everton vs Fulham Prediction, Odds and Betting Tips: Ashley Young in 5/4 double

Saturday evening’s Premier League entertainment sees two sides with contrasting starts to the season clash on Merseyside as Everton host Fulham at Goodison Park, live on Sky Sports at 5.30pm.

Sean Dyche’s side had a tough start to their campaign, losing their opening four games, but have since gone unbeaten in their most recent four. Fulham meanwhile, sit comfortably in 10th place and are looking for a fourth consecutive win at Goodison Park in the Premier League. 

We start in the fouls market which feels a good place to land with Fulham currently averaging the fourth most fouls in the Premier League with 12.9 per game. A regular offender for them has been Nigerian centre back Calvin Bassey who has made eight fouls in eight games, picking up three bookings in the process. In four away trips he’s made a foul in every game at an average of two per 90 minutes and so another journey north could lead to more foul play.  

Bassey’s direct opponent here will be Dominic Calvert-Lewin and with Dyche’s penchant for direct, percentage football, the pair will be involved in plenty of aerial battles which have a tendency to lead to fouls. DCL has been fouled in all but one of his Premier League appearances this season at an average of 1.31 per 90 and so hopefully Bassey is given the responsibility of containing him.

At the other end of the pitch, veteran Ashley is anything but Young, however, he’s putting in defensive performances that are rolling back the years. He’ll be starting at right back here and looking to continue a trend which has seen him averaging 2.71 tackles per 90 minutes in all competitions. He’s made two or more tackles in six of his seven games when playing 45 minutes or more this season including having made five last time out against the tricky Jack Clarke. He’s also no stranger to a foul and has averaged 1.06 per 90 this season. 

Young will be up against the left side combination of Antonee Robinson and Alex Iwobi and the pair have drawn plenty of action so far this season from opposition right backs. Of the eight Premier League right backs to have played against Fulham this season, six have made at least two tackles with three of those making three. On the fouls front, those same full backs have only committed three fouls between them but with Young losing a yard of pace at 39 years old, there’s every chance he mistimes one of those tackle opportunities and has no choice but to bring the opposition down.  

In any case, Young has a career average of 0.9 fouls per game and with wingers including Reiss Nelson and Harry Wilson to come on from the bench who have drawn 5.79 fouls per 90 between them this season, a tired challenge late on could be the one to land this bet for us. 

Everton vs Fulham Lineups

The starting lineups for Everton vs Fulham will be displayed in the graphic below once the team news has been announced.