Between the teams that have not collected a single point after two days in the Premier League, apart from Manchester United and West Ham, there is also Frank Lampard’s Everton. True, the calendar has not been kind to the Toffees, who have come back from a championship in which they seriously risked relegation and were forced to start again from the Championship. The nightmarish opener at Goodison Park against Chelsea – against the Blues they limited the damage, coming close to a draw – then a complicated away match in Birmingham against Gerrard’s Aston Villa. At Villa Park it was a clear defeat for Everton, who tried to get back into the game too late: former Roma player Digne’s own goal was not enough to retake the team coached by the former Liverpool captain.
There were also too many absences, especially in attack, at the moment the department most in trouble. Calvert-Lewin is still out with injury but for Lampard that’s not the only bad news: apparently the other centre forward, Anthony Gordon, has asked to be sold once Chelsea’s interest has been registered.
There is a different air at home at Nottingham Forest, the historic club of English football returned to the Premier League after more than twenty years of absence. The squad at Steve Cooper’s disposal has been completely revolutionised and ‘filled’ with people of category, so that salvation does not remain a mirage. And the market immediately bore fruit: former Union Berlin Awoniyi, Forest’s top summer signing, gave the Garibaldi Reds their first three points in last Sunday’s game against West Ham, castigated 1-0 at the City Ground. For Nottingham it was the first ringing endorsement since their opening defeat to Newcastle.
O’Brien ©️LaPresse
The Prediction
Against West Ham in the last round, Nottingham Forest showed that they can give a run for their money with the arrival of their new signings. And in all likelihood they should be able to do it again at Goodison Park against an Everton still unable to get out of the tunnel – which they got themselves into last year. It promises to be a balanced match, less than three goals in total.
Everton-Nottingham Forest
likely line-ups.
EVERTON (3-4-3): Pickford; Holgate, Coady, Tarkowski; Patterson, Iwobi, Onana, Mykolenko; McNeil, Gordon, Gray.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (3-4-1-2): Henderson; Worrall, Niakhate, McKenna; Williams, O’Brien, Mangala, Toffolo; Lingard; Awoniyi, Johnson.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
