Everton vs Fulham Predictions

• Everton have four wins and four clean sheets from five pre-season games.
• Fulham lost six of their final eight away fixtures last season.
• Everton have won four of their nine home games under Sean Dyche.

First full season for Dyche

Everton finished just two points above the drop zone last season and will be hoping for a better campaign under Sean Dyche this time around.

Dyche took charge at Goodison Park in January and led the club to survival, but he hasn’t had much room to manoeuvre during the summer transfer window and another difficult year could well lie ahead.

It looked as if Fulham were set for a summer of turmoil as boss Marco Silva and forwards Aleksandar Mitrovic and Willian were linked with Saudi moves.

Silva snubbed the Saudi interest and the club managed to keep hold of both Mitrovic and Willian – although it remains unclear as to whether either will feature on Merseyside after limited game time during pre-season.

Everton can grind out a win

Everton have a small squad but have managed to find some rhythm in pre-season after four wins and a draw. The Goodison club have shown some defensive resolve as well, keeping four clean sheets, and home advantage may be enough to see them over the line on Saturday.

The Merseyside outfit won their final home game against Bournemouth and can grind out a victory on Saturday. Fulham did win 3-1 at this ground towards the end of last season, but if they are without Mitrovic and Willian – or they both have to settle for bench roles for the season opener – they look a little light in attack and could struggle against what should be a dogged Everton side.

Goals could be in short supply

Dyche’s Burnley team was set up to defend and frustrate and with limited resources at Everton he will stick to that approach.

Everton won four home games in nine attempts in the league under Dyche and all of those were 1-0 victories.

Fulham failed to score in two of their final four away fixtures last term, so a 1-0 win for the home side makes sense as a correct score prediction.

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