Everton v AEK AthensThursday, September 18
Everton v AEK Athens
Preview: Everton will look to put their poor domestic form behind them as they face Greek team, AEK Athens. Everton have just one win from four in the EPL and have a whole host of injuries/suspensions to contend with ahead of this game. Captain, Phil Neville, is out until the new year with a knee injury while long term absentees Phil Jagielka, Mikel Arteta, and Anichebe are still a while away from returning to first team football. In addition, regular right-back in Tony Hibbert is suspended, while new signing Johnny Hietinga is ineligible after playing for his former club (Atletico Madrid) in Champions' League Qualifiers. In better news for the Premier League side, new Russian signing Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, will be handed his full debut while youngster Dan Gosling is expected to fill the void at right back. For the visitors, experienced defender, Daniel Majstorovic, is suspended but the void left by the Swede is expected to be filled by new signing, 22 year-old Argentine, Arce from San Lorenzo.
Verdict: It is true that Everton face a mini crisis in the EPL but they are still a formiddable unit at Goodison Park, despite their 6-1 thrashing to Arsenal a month back. In terms of the injuries/suspensions facing the team, I don't think this will severely effect the team for this match. If anything, the leadership skills of Neville will be missed but in terms of technical ability, a player like Fellaini is far superior and he should easily fill in the central-midfield role. At right-back, Hibbert (together with Osman) is probably Everton's weakest link so a youngster like Gosling knows he has a good chance to make that position his own. In all honesty, if he handles the occassion, he couldn't do any worse than Hibbert. Bilyaletdinov has prior European experience with Lokomotiv Moscow so he shouldn't be daunted by the task at hand. I expect Everton to play a more attractive brand of football this evening as these changes provide more balance to the side.
Pick: Everton -1AH @ 1.98 (ibcbet, 8 units)
Everton 4 - 0 AEK Athens
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