Everton - Match Preview

After three months of waiting, and a successful pre-season, the time has finally arrived to herald Watford's return to the Barclays Premiership after an absence of six years.

Tomorrow's opening day fixture at Goodison Park, home to Everton FC, represents the fruition of a fantastic nine months last season, that ultimately ended in never-to-be forgotten Millennium Stadium play-off glory.

However, all that is now consigned to history, and manager, Aidy Boothroyd and his team travel north with great expectation and high optimism amongst players and supporters alike at the start of a new campaign.

The charismatic Boothroyd has added wisely to his already talented squad in the intervening months since the Cardiff victory, bringing in experienced Premiership players such as Chris Powell and Damien Francis to compliment the arrival of talented youngsters, Tamas Priskin and Albert Jarrett.

The biggest money signing of the close season, a £1.6m million capture of Queens Park Rangers' powerhouse centre half, Danny Shittu should bolster an already strong back line, that has been reinforced still further with the welcome return of Manchester United goalkeeper, Ben Foster on another season long loan.

And our hosts!

After finishing fourth and thereby qualifying for the Champions League at the end of the 2004/05 campaign last season proved to be something of a disappointment for Everton, and although a strong second half to last term enabled them to finish a respectable eleventh following a disastrous start, more will be expected of them this time around.

The Toffees, managed by the well respected David Moyes, has also strengthened during the summer months, and the arrival of striker, Andrew Johnson from Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers' highly rated central defender, Joleon Lescott, two players well known to Watford fans from their Championship days, plus the on loan capture of Manchester United goalie, Tim Howard should bolster the Merseysiders' challenge considerably.

The team has a familiar look elsewhere, and a midfield consisting of Mikel Arteta and the highly sought after Tim Cahill should be able to provide enough ammunition for Johnson and fellow England hopeful, James Beattie to increase Everton's scoring ratio, which saw them net just 34 league goals last season.

Defensively the Goodison Park outfit remain as strong as ever with Alessandro Pistone, Joseph Yobo, Phil Neville, Alan Stubbs and David Weir all competing for places in the starting line-up.

History of the Everton v Watford Fixture

Watford travel north to take on Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon, looking to break their duck against the hosts, as on each previous occasion, the match has ended in defeat for the Golden Boys.

The last time the two teams met on Merseyside was back in April 2000, when Watford was on the wrong end of a six goal thriller.

For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here

Recent encounters between the teams:
2000/2001	Sat 06 Jan	Watford	1-2	Everton	FAC
1999/2000	Sat 01 Apr	Everton	4-2	Watford	PREM
1999/2000	Sat 18 Dec	Watford	1-3	Everton	PREM
1991/1992	Tue 08 Oct	Watford	1-2	Everton	LGEC
1991/1992	Tue 24 Sep	Everton	1-0	Watford	LGEC
1987/1988	Sat 26 Mar	Watford	1-2	Everton	PREM
1987/1988	Sat 24 Oct	Everton	2-0	Watford	PREM

Recent respective form guide

As this is the first match of a new season the form guides of both teams are purely based on last season.

Everton have collected 2 wins and 3 draws from their last six home matches with a total of 11 goals having being scored by the Toffees and seven conceded.

The away form of Watford, albeit in the Coca-Cola Championship, is much more impressive, with three victories and just one loss from the last six matches played. The games have constituted a decent return of ten goals for the Golden Boys and six against.

For a detailed analysis of team form guides throughout the leagues, click here

Current form guides:	P	W	D	L	F	A	P
Everton	6	1	3	2	3	6	6
Watford	6	4	2	0	10	2	14

Golden Boys Prediction…

An interesting game for the Golden Boys to play at the moment, and one from which I believe will see Watford take away one point. Score draw

Sequence statistics:
Everton	Drawn last 2 games at home. Failed to win in previous 4 home matches. Unbeaten run of 3 matches.
Watford	3 successive away victories. 4 games since last away draw. 9 games since last defeat.