After resting some players for the 3-0 Merseyside derby defeat for Liverpool during the week, the pressure is on Everton to progress to the FA Cup semi-finals at the expense of Sunderland this weekend, and at a price of 7/2 on offer Martin O’Neil’s side definitely look the value.
Many fans of the club weren’t happy with the approach to the game at Anfield and there is no doubt David Moyes could do with victory this weekend to avoid any further criticism.
The Everton boss will also hope that the momentum from their recent good form hasn’t been lost after the defeat to Liverpool. Prior to Tuesday evening, the Toffees had gone nine games unbeaten across all competitions and things were looking very positive.
Everton Sunderland Odds : Betfred Free Bets Offer
Betfred have been in touch to tell us they will kindly offer free bets worth £50/€50 to all Footybunker.com customers to spend on any football fixture this week, including the FA Cup! Pick up your exclusive £50/€50 with Betfred here! Be quick – limited offer!
The defeat to Liverpool doesn’t undo this good work of course, but it does put the pressure on the home side. They should bring Nikica Jelavic, Phil Neville, Tim Cahill, John Heitinga and Leon Osman back into the starting line-up though and this should give them a boost.
As for Sunderland, they enjoyed one of the finest victories of their season last time out as they defeated Liverpool 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. After three games without a win in the Premier League, this was a welcome boost for them ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final.
Like Everton, Sunderland will have big ambitions of progressing to the final four of this competition. Having beaten Arsenal in the last round, they will fear no-one as they continue to improve under Martin O’Neill.
It is also worth noting that both teams have no danger of being relegated, meaning they can throw everything into their FA Cup campaign. This means it should be an extremely competitive contest at Goodison Park.
When these two teams met earlier in the season, they played out a 1-1 draw and it seems fair to say that this will be another close match with one goal perhaps enough for the winning team to progress.
This FA Cup quarter-final tie gets underway at 12.35pm on Saturday afternoon.