Everton may have come away from Old Trafford empty handed last week but the Toffees and Brighton are are in good form ahead of their meeting at Goodison Park. We were on Merseyside back in March when Everton won the corresponding fixture 2-0 to go ninth in the Premier League. Everton are currently ninth in the table but there’s more optimism among the supporters because in Marco Silva, the club has a manager that will try to play attacking football. Sam Allardyce knew how to get results but it wasn’t always pleasing on the eye.
Silva has brought in a lot of new faces to the squad since taking charge and Everton fans are excited by the addition of André Gomes to the midfield. Silva has used Gylfi Sigurdsson in the number 10 role, which didn’t happen enough last season because there were too many players for that position. As a result Richarlison is playing up front but he has only scored once since moving into that role. The Brazilian scored had three goals from five games as a winger but Silva obviously doesn’t fully trust Cenk Tosun as a starter.
Brighton have won three games in a row and all by one goal. Chris Hughton’s side have been excellent in defence to get a return of nine points from those three games and 35 year old Glenn Murray continues to find the net at the other end. The Seagulls had the worst away record in the league last season, picking up just two wins from 19 games on the road. Brighton beat Newcastle 1-0 in their last away game but they’ve only scored three away goals all season. It could be another busy day for the likes of Shane Duffy, Lewis Dunk and Matt Ryan but Brighton won’t make it easy for Everton who may have to be patient to earn the three points.
Everton v Brighton will be the commentary game on Premier League Live with Sky Sports which gets underway at 2.00 on Today FM. Ian Beach and Ray Houghton will be in the commentary box at Goodison Park.
We’ll also have reporters at all the other games across the afternoon, including the Cardiff City Stadium, where Leicester City play their first game since the death of club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, one of five people who died in a helicopter crash last Saturday.
This week’s guest in the Boot Room will be Kevin Grogan, once on the books at Manchester United and he was also part of Brian Kerr’s Ireland team that won the European under 16’s Championship in 1998. Grogan was brought to United by Alex Ferguson but unfortunately for the Dubliner, injury cut his football career short. Grogan now works in the US as a coach and he’ll be looking back on his playing days and he coped with the reality that he had to call it a day.
Former Wexford Youths and Galway United manager Shane Keegan will be in studio to preview Sunday’s FAI Cup final as Dundalk and Cork City lock horns for a fourth year in a row.
Premier League Live with Sky Sports on Today FM from 2-6pm.
