Season › 2013-14 › News

Everton vs West Bromwich Albion

Match Preview

Three and a half months after David Moyes waved his farewell to the home faithful at the end of an eleven-year tenure as Everton manager, his successor, Roberto Martinez, will take to the hallowed turf to be welcomed ahead of his first competitive match at Goodison Park.

A vocal contingent of the core support will, of course, have already witnessed what will, in all likelihood, be the dawn of the Martinez era at Carrow Road last weekend but this weekend offers the opportunity for the new man to properly introduce himself through the changes he has already been making to the Blues' playing style.

Any doubt voiced by some fans during pre-season over the extent to which Martinez's methods were impacting the players' approach went a long way to being erased by the character of Everton's possession-based performance against Norwich, one which saw them dominate the play to an even greater degree than had become the case under Moyes over the last couple of seasons.

Under the Spaniard's predecessor, the Blues had become increasingly dominant in terms of possession, be it at home or away, but there was a notable increase in the players' selfishness with the ball last weekend that skewed the possession statistics to almost an impressive 70-30 ratio in Everton's favour in the first half.

Echoing the team's struggles turning superiority into wins last season, all that first-half possession yielded no goals but Martinez's men struck twice in the space of four minutes in the second half to first cancel out Whitaker's opener and then take the lead through Ross Barkley's stunning strike and Seamus Coleman's alert follow-up.

In all, the Blues had 20 shots to Norwich's eight and there was plenty of promise shown in the game for the season ahead, particularly in the performances of Barkley and Nikica Jelavic. The 19 year-old showed for the first time that he has what it takes to now be a regular starter with an impressively consistent and potent display pulling strings in the attacking midfield role and he compensated to a large degree for the loss to injury of Gibson and an off-key Steven Pienaar.

Certainly, while the central area remains shallow in terms of quality and depth, Barkley has a ready-made role to make his own and, with Gibson unlikely to play any part against West Bromwich Albion, he will get another chance to stake that claim this weekend.

The Baggies were the surprise package of the early weeks of last season and, under Steve Clark, looked to have found the right blend of defensive resilience, midfield drive and goalscoring threat from loan star, Romelu Lukaku, to remain a force in the European picture throughout the campaign.

They lost their momentum as the season wore on, however, and with Lukaku having returned to Chelsea, it's unlikely they will have enough quality to trouble the top six this season. Scott Sinclair has been drafted in on for the season from Manchester City to add some pace and trickery on the flank but in terms of their visit to Goodison Park, it's the absence of Nicolas Anelka that will hit them hardest. The enigmatic Frenchman has been excused from the match on compassionate grounds following the death of his agent.

For Martinez, it will more than likely be a case of as-you-were from the Norwich game, which will mean Jelavic, who, on the evidence at Carrow Road, has carried his pre-season form into the new campaign, starting up front with Arouna Kone on the bench.

Though he toyed with a three-man defence to great effect in the International Champions Cup game against Juventus, it's unlikely that the manager will tinker with things at the back at this early juncture when getting points on the board is so crucial, not least because potential rivals for the top four like Tottenham and Chelsea have got off to winning starts.

Kick off: 3pm
Referee: Roger East
Last Season: Everton 2-1 West Bromwich Albion

 

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