Everton approach the final game of the Premier League Summer Series in Atalanta ion Sunday night, hoping to prevent Manchester Utd winning the trophy.
With wins already over West Ham Utd and Bournemouth, the Old Trafford side appear to have recovered their pride and swagger after the ultimate embarrassment of finishing the last Premier League season two places and 6 points below Everton, and are well set to claim the Premier League Summer Series trophy unless the Blues can pull off a huge surprise victory.
It’s a tall order for David Moyes and his small retinue of goal-shy strugglers as they seek to improve fitness and cohesion with the start of the new Premier League season now less than 2 weeks away. They cannot win the trophy after losing to both West Ham Utd and Bournemouth, and would need a miracle to avoid finishing last in this dubious pre-season branding exercise.
At least James Tarkowski has made an appearance, suggesting that he is well on the way toward a full recovery from hamstring surgery at the end of last season, which can only be good news for a team that is severely limited in terms of leadership on the field.
Theirno Barry, the star signing of the close season so far for Everton, struggled to make much of an impression in his only showing so far on Wednesday night, but Beto has been his usual enigmatic self, so David Moyes could throw the big Frenchman in from the start tomorrow night.
The question of meaningful support for the striker going forward still remains a challenging one, despite the tantalising skills of Iliman Ndiaye and the latent Latino charisma of Charly Alcaraz — neither of whom have produced anything in terms of end product on this tour so far.
The only player to have created anything meaningful is young Academy protégé, Harrison Armstrong, who drove forward with determination and a mature calmness to play in Idrissa Gana Gueye for the only goal of the tournament that the Blues have managed to score. But sadly the youngster faded into anonymity for the rest of the game in Chicago, and may not have given David Moyes sufficient grounds for another starting place.
Jordan Pickford seems certain to return in goal after Mark Travers’s blunder when attempting to punch away a lofted cross that landed conveniently for Paqueta to plunder an equalizer on Wednesday as the Hammers went on to win with a goal that had both Travers and Everton’s right-sided defenders looking sheepish. That was a pity as Travers had pulled off a few creditable shot-stopper saves.
But former Manchester United and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard seems to have the inside track on what could be the deciding factor on Sunday night:
“Fans like winning and, if you want someone who’s a winner, David Moyes can line his team up to get a result as that comes down to adaptability and he has that.”
Kick-off at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, is on Sunday 3 August at 5:00 pm EDT (10:00 pm BST), with live coverage from the NBC Peacock team broadcast on Sky TV in the UK.
Reader Comments (12)
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Jack Convery
2 Posted
02/08/2025 at
14:55:21
Has Aznou joined the squad in USA?
If so, give him some minutes please.
Alan J Thompson
3 Posted
02/08/2025 at
15:28:26
Has anyone worked out Moyes’ connection to Bournemouth, 3 ex-clubs and one future? Stranger than fiction.
Paul Kossoff
4 Posted
02/08/2025 at
16:21:39
Good news boys, Bryan Mbeumo will make his Manchester United debut against Everton in Atlanta on Saturday, what a surprise!😕
Billy Shears
5 Posted
02/08/2025 at
19:33:01
Another defeat looming then a no doubt average, lackluster draw at home to Roma,then our usual mauling at HELLand Road on the opening weekend…
Seen it so many times before like!!!
Ian Burns
6 Posted
02/08/2025 at
20:23:57
I am in the UK at the moment and over a lunchtime sandwich switched on Cardiff vs Peterborough. I was so impressed with the way the Cardiff manager had his team playing it was the sort of football I would love to see at BMD. Barry-Murphy whoever he is!? Also was so impressed with their right sided player Ollie Tanner. My point being there is genuine talent out there in the lower divisions.
Rob Halligan
7 Posted
02/08/2025 at
20:34:53
Billy # 5………”Our usual mauling at HELLand Road”……out of the last six games there, weve won 2, drawn 3 and lost only 1. 🙄🙄🙄
Rob Halligan
8 Posted
02/08/2025 at
21:04:09
Correction to # 7………..the one defeat we had at Leeds was a league cup game, back in season 2012 / 13. So we are unbeaten at Leeds in the last five league visits. The last league defeat there was season 2001 / 02 though they were out the top flight for a few years.
Jeff Armstrong
9 Posted
02/08/2025 at
21:08:35
Rob, dont let facts get in the way of negativity!
Christy Ring
10 Posted
02/08/2025 at
21:19:48
Ian #6 Barry-Murphy played with Sheffield Wednesday managed and played for Rochdale, Pep brought him to City, in charge of academy, his dad one of the best hurler and footballer in Ireland, a legend. ”
Ian Burns
11 Posted
02/08/2025 at
21:25:08
Thanks Christy – never heard of him but sounds like he comes from good stock. He is one to keep an eye on for sure.
Michael Burke
12 Posted
02/08/2025 at
22:24:43
Pre seasons are often a no-win situation for teams. Lose, doom and gloom. Win, opposition had a weakened team out.
The goals we’ve conceded on the whole have been individual errors, which you would expect to be avoided in the high stakes of a Premier League game when minds and bodies are sharp and focused, not fatigued from playing in heat whilst in the middle of hard training.
Travers doesn’t hesitate in a Premier League game. He takes Mykolenko out. Imagine the backlash if he does that in a nothing game!
I hope he gives Barry more game time. The result doesn’t matter! Getting used to playing in Moyes’s system does. Ideally we’d have had a full new right side and an upgrade in central midfield, but we wait in hope…….
Jeff Armstrong
13 Posted
02/08/2025 at
22:48:39
The problem for us is goals, we get very little from midfield other than Illy, Beto will get 10-13 in a full season, but we play with only one striker (Beto?, Barry?) we need goals from our midfield 5, not just Ndiaye.
One goal from open play in 4 public preseason games, and that was a fluke from our non scoring anchor, IGG, who is imperative to our team BTW.
We need to start playing with two up top or bring in goalscoring midfielders.
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