Everton vs. Sunderland, Goodison Park, 24th November 2007Preview
Coming into this match Sunderland find them selves two points above the relegation zone, in their first season back in the Premier League.
It’s fair to say that, like most teams, they have found it hard going after promotion from The Championship. But I do believe Roy Keane has what it takes to keep his team in the top flight.
The two victories they have had were at their home ground, The Stadium of Light.
That was against a very under par Tottenham team and a Reading side that is around the same calibre as Sunderland, in a footballing sense.
In fact they have only managed 2 points away from home, but they will be buoyed after securing a point against their fierce local rivals, Newcastle United, in their last league game.
Everton will be looking to keep their impressive run of form going. It’s been seven games since they lost in any competition.
Their latest victory coming in the UEFA Cup, beating FC Nurnberg 2-0 in Germany. They followed that with an unlikely draw away at Chelsea. Tim Cahill yet again in the right spot to pull a result out of the bag.
Manager David Moyes has luxury of selecting a team from a fully fit squad.
With a hectic December of nine games fast approaching, it will be interesting to see who he selects for a game Evertonians full expect to win.
Will it be his first choice team or will he rest some players so he has a fresh squad later in the month?
Some good news out of Goodison Park is many of the team have been agreeing new deals to keep them at Everton.
Speculation on their futures always surrounds the better players. Hopefully their commitment to the club will stop the stories of their immanent departure, at least for a few seasons.
But good news is always followed by bad. I was sad to see Everton’s assistant manager, Alan Irvine, leave Goodison to become Preston North End’s new manager.
The former Everton player has been a huge success since joining from Newcastle Utd as a coach.
It was only a mater of time until Irvine got him self a manager’s job, and Preston is a club steeped in history.
Irvine will be a success at Deepdale, and I fully expect him to guide his new team into the Premier League.
The Match
When people see the final score they will think it was a one-way game. That would not exactly be true. In fact it was Sunderland who made the brightest start out of the two teams.
It wasn’t until the 11 minute that Everton got onto the score sheet, and that was due to a large amount of luck.
A long ball forward by goalkeeper Tim Howard wasn’t dealt with be the Sunderland defence. Yakubu pounced onto the mistake and, using his strength to out mussel the retreating defender, he unleashed a powerful shot which deflected of an out stretched foot and looped over the head the Gordon in the Sunderland goal.
1-0 Everton.
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