English Premier League Week 11 Preview: Toffees And Seasiders In A Europa League Six Pointer?

Believe it or not, Blackpool are currently one place behind Everton in the standings, even on points. Okay, so maybe that isn’t so surprising after Blackpool’s win at the beginning of the season and Everton’s awful start, but who would have predicted it at the beginning of the season? Right now, both of these teams are looking like Europa League contenders. We know that Everton is serious in that regard, but how close to for real are Blackpool?

The cool thing about Ian Halloway’s boys is that they’re not doing this like Reading and Hull have done in the recent past. They’re playing really nice football and at the center of that nice football is an intelligent, technically sound player in Charlie Adam. They’re not scoring lucky goals and Matthew Gilks isn’t standing on his head, they’re winning because they’re outplaying teams.

Everton’s problems in the last couple of years have been injuries, but right now, they’re reasonably healthy. They will be without Marouane Felliaini until at least December, but other than that, their first choice players are all available. Blackpool will have trouble outplaying the best Everton has to offer.

Projected Lineup, Blackpool (4-3-3): Gilks - Crainey, Evatt, Cathcart, Eardley - Vaughan, Grandin, Adam - Taylor-Fletcher, Campbell, Varney

Projected Lineup, Everton (4-4-1-1): Howard - Baines, Distin, Jagielka, Neville - Pineaar, Arteta, Heitinga, Coleman - Cahill - Yakubu

Key Battle: Neal Eardley and friends versus Steven Pineaar and Leighton Baines. Neal Eardley is having a good season, but he’s going to have his hands full with Pineaar and Baines attacking down the left flank. Eliot Grandin and Gary Taylor-Fletcher are going to have to pitch in to keep Eardley from getting ripped apart. If those guys can get themselves space to put crosses across the box, it seems safe to assume that Yakubu and Cahill will, at some point, make them pay for it.

Battle Within The Battle: Obviously, Blackpool can’t leave Eardley on an island, but they don’t want Taylor-Fletcher spending all of his time on the ball. Their best open play opportunities are likely to come on the counter, and the easiest way to counter will be down the right flank when Baines gets caught too high up the pitch. If Taylor-Fletcher is always behind they ball, they will struggle to take advantage of one of the few openings Everton are likely to give them on a regular basis.

Pick: It’s painful to pick against the lovable Tangerines, but Everton just have too much quality. Everton 2, Blackpool 1.