Everton v Huddersfield: Toffees rate a sweet bet to get Allardyce reign off to a flyer

Everton v Huddersfield
Saturday 2 December, 15:00

Allardyce takes charge

Everton's famed school of science gives way to the school of hard knocks as Sam Allardycetakes charge of his first game as manager, having watched Wednesday's 4-0 home win over West Ham from the stands alongside majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

Wayne Rooney was the star of the show against the Hammers with a hat-trick capped by that wonder strike from inside his own half. He had been left out of Sunday's 4-1 defeat at Southampton and there were rumours that Allardyce played a hand in his recall. Whatever the circumstances, there is no dropping him now.

The principal new injury doubts this week are defenders Leighton Baines and Michael Keane, who both had to go off at Southampton and were unavailable against West Ham.

Rocky road form

Huddersfield slipped to 15th after Wednesday's 5-0 defeat at Arsenal, with Everton moving one place above them on goal difference.

David Wagner's side were competitive for a long time at the Emirates, and even more so in Sunday's 2-1 loss at home to Manchester City, but they are over-reliant on their home form.

They rank 10th at home but 17th away and only West Ham have a worse goal difference on the road.

Rajiv van La Parra, sent off against Manchester City, is serving the second part of a three-match ban.

Decent home record

Allardyce takes over a strong squad that has struggled mainly due to an imbalance in the forward department following the destabilising departure of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United.

A focal point for the attack would be a priority for any January spending but let's not forget that Allardyce - for all his pragmatism - had the likes of Youri Djorkaeff at Bolton, so Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson could thrive under his management.

Everton's home record is not bad, with four wins out of five against teams outside the big six (the exception being a 1-0 defeat by Burnley, who are sixth in the table).

That indicates a clear win chance against Huddersfield, who are sinking towards the bottom after a buoyant start to the season.

The only away goals scored by the Terriers came in their 3-0 opening-day win against a Crystal Palace side in disarray under Frank de Boer and their only point on the road since then came in a goalless draw at Burnley on September 23.

Recent losses at Liverpool and Arsenal might be forgivable, but less so are the defeats against fellow strugglers West Ham (2-0), Swansea (2-0) and Bournemouth (4-0).

With away goals hard to find, it is difficult to fancy Huddersfield to take anything from the match and Everton look a solid win chance at 1.74. In fact, they could easily be priced much shorter.

Doubt factors

Huddersfield's scoring problems on the road look likely to drag the goals down, although five of Everton's seven home games have gone over 2.5 goals.

Unders is probably the call given the doubt over whether there will be a contribution from the away side, although Everton did not need any help in Wednesday's 4-0 win.

The biggest doubt factor is that we don't know how Allardyce will set up his first Everton team.

Big Sam's big aim?

A home win to nil at 7/4 with Betfair Sportsbook is worth considering given Everton's strong win chance and Allardyce's liking for a clean sheet, which he may set as one of the main priorities for his new team.

Huddersfield have lost five of their seven away games and all of the defeats were to nil, as was their EFL Cup loss at Crystal Palace.

Ref Watch

Chris Kavanagh is inexperienced in Premier League terms and is taking charge of only his fourth game at this level this season, with his previous three having produced two, five and three yellow cards.

Recommended Bet
Back Everton win at 1.74

Opta Stat
Sam Allardyce will become the first manager to take charge of seven Premier League clubs in this game - Allardyce has won four of his six first Premier League matches in charge of his previous six clubs but won none of his most recent two (D1 L1). Everton can be laid at1.76.