With only four games remaining this season, Swansea City have a real fight on their hands if they are to maintain their Premier League status for next season.
Currently sitting 18th in the Premier League table, 2 points behind Hull City, Swansea need to start winning games, beginning this week against Everton, if they are to avoid relegation. With Hull hosting relegated Sunderland at the KCOM Stadium, nothing but a win will be good enough from this game.
Everton will struggle to finish anywhere other than their current position of 7th this season. With Arsenal 2 points clear in 6th place and two games in hand, the Toffees will find it difficult to move ahead of the Gunners.
West Bromwich Albion are the team in 8th place but its almost impossible for them to close the gap on Everton, so Ronald Koeman must motivate his players to keep performing towards the end of the season.
Swansea City vs. Everton
Premier League – Saturday 7th May 2017 – 8:30pm
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Draw Best Odd of: 5/2 at Ladbrokes |
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Swansea
EvertonSwansea Form
The fact Swansea have been languishing near the bottom of the table for some time, tells you everything you need to know about their recent form.
The Swans have won just 1 of their last 8 Premier League games, which was their last home match against Stoke City. During that run of 8 games, Swansea have lost to Hull, Bournemouth, West Ham and Watford, all of which are teams Paul Clement would have been hoping to defeat.
On the plus side for Swansea, their home form has been good recently and they have lost only 1 of their last 6 Premier League games at the Liberty Stadium. There have been wins over Southampton, Leicester, Burnley and most recently, Stoke.
Everton Form
The 3-0 defeat to Chelsea last weekend was a disappointing result for Everton, who have been found wanting twice this season against the potential champions.
Koeman will be expecting a big response from his players in this match, which will make them dangerous opponents for Swansea. However, it’s away from home where Everton have struggled to pick up wins this season.
While only tasting defeat twice in their last 9 away league games, Everton have won only 2, drawing with Hull, Stoke, Middlesbrough, Manchester United and West Ham. Other than the result at Old Trafford, these are matches Everton must win if they are to challenge for European football and even one more victory on the road, could have made a lot of difference to their season.
Team News: Games Running Out for Swansea City
Swansea can welcome back Jack Cork, Martin Olsson and Leroy Fer, who were not fit to start the match having featured from the bench last weekend. Swansea delivered a good performance against Manchester United, so minimal changes are expected to the starting XI.
Koeman will be tempted to make changes following the defeat to Chelsea last time out. However, with the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Seamus Coleman, Ramiro Funes Mori, Yannick Bolasie and James McCarthy still out, the Dutchman’s options are somewhat limited.
Top Betting Tips
There have been under 2.5 goals scored in 6 of Swansea’s last 7 Premier League games this season and they are trying to keep things tight at the back in a bid to stay up. You can get under 2.5 goals at Evens with BetVictor.
However, Everton, despite not winning many games away from home, have been scoring goals and have scored at least once in 8 of their last 10 games on the road, 50% of which ended in a draw. Ladbrokes offer 10/3 for the match to end level with both teams scoring.
If Swansea are to create anything going forward, it’s likely to come via Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Icelandic international was excellent against Manchester United and scored a beautiful free-kick. Expect him to be at the heart of Swansea’s goal scoring chances. Sigurdsson is 13/2 with PaddyPower to score the first goal of the game.