Stoke v Everton

Stoke and Everton lock horns at the Britannia on the 1st of May, at 19:45 GMT.

Teams News

Stoke

Two games at home in three days should be enough for Stoke to light up some inspiration on the pitch. The team after all has scored only 32 goals this season, and of those 32, 21 were netted at home. Even better for Stoke, they have three home games in their last four fixtures of the season including the one over this weekend against Arsenal. Tony Pulis will of course look to capitalize on these home ties in order to pull his team within the top 10.

Back-to-back matches will force Tony Pulis to shuffle his line-up and play it safe however. The likes of Andy Wilkinson who picked up an injury last week against Newcastle could be rested over the weekend for this game, or he might not feature at all until the following week. Rory Delap could step up to take his place at the right of midfield, but the 35-year old Irish has not been very prolific lately so Tony Pulis might look elsewhere.

Everton

Despite having Leighton Baines on the sideline, David Moyes and the Toffees have managed to only concede 7 goals in the last six with an adjusted back-four. Distin has played on the left considerably well even if he does not possess the same attacking pizzazz that Baines offered on a usual basis. Then again, with players going goal-frenzy in the last few games, Moyes will be more than happy to see Distin play it safe on the left.

Fans have been talking about Nikica Jelavic, Steven Pienaar, and Leon Osman as of late. But what about Marouane Fellaini? The young Belgian, who was recently called on to replace Tim Cahill made a big difference against Manchester United last week. He might have not racked up the statistics to prove his consistency yet, but he might just end the season with a blistering run of form.

Stoke v Everton Betting Preview

Two wins, two losses, and two stalemates apiece; that’s how the last six matches ended up for these two teams. This game is all in the air arguably, and anybody could go out and be the winner this time around. Hints for a draw are also apparent – Stoke are better at home than on the road, while Everton has drawn no less than six games away. Against a stingy Stoke defense, things could be quite difficult for Everton’s scorers. And with Stoke not known to score a lot of goals, many will fancy a draw.

Betting Tip

Verdict: A draw at 2-2 is very likely.

Tip: Punters who are looking to play with more risk and possibly end up with better rewards won’t have much of a choice to settle with a draw. A no-winner scenario is tipped at 9/4. A correct scoreline at 2-2 is staked at 16/1 and should be a good complement to the aforementioned punt for a draw.

Nikica Jelavic has a knack for scoring braces so he might be able to give good returns with a 12/1 odds for him to score two goals or more. On the “score anytime” category, there are only a few good choices, perhaps the best of which is a Marouane Fellaini to score anytime at 11/2.

All odds are from Bet365.com (£200 FREE BET!).