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The Premier League season is upon us, and that can mean only one thing — highly questionable predictions from your favorite bloggers. That’s right, the Royal Blue Mersey Writer Prediction League is back and better than ever!
Each week, each of our writers will submit a series of predictions for each match Everton will be playing during the coming week. These will be:
- First player to score a goal in the match -- can be from either team (correct pick worth 1 point)
- The player voted as Everton man of the match in the Royal Blue Mersey post-match poll (correct pick worth 1 point)
- The team that wins the match, or a draw (correct pick worth 2 points)
- The final score of the match (correct pick worth 2 points)
So for each match, a writer can earn up to six points. With the Europa League likely in play as well, a week could be worth up to 12 points, meaning there will always be opportunities for movement up the table!
With no further delay then, we present our first round of predictions of the season, for Everton’s Premier League opener against Stoke City.
Stoke City Predictions
| Writer | First Scorer | Everton MOTM | Winner | Score | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | First Scorer | Everton MOTM | Winner | Score | Points |
| Adam | Klaassen | Klaassen | Everton | 1-0 | 4 |
| Brian F. | Sandro | Sandro | Everton | 2-1 | 2 |
| Brian L. | Sandro | Pickford | Draw | 1-1 | 1 |
| Callum | Shawcross | Keane | Draw | 2-2 | 0 |
| Calvin | Rooney | Klaassen | Everton | 2-1 | 3 |
| Chris | Allen | Keane | Draw | 1-1 | 0 |
| Matt | Sandro | Gueye | Everton | 2-1 | 2 |
| Mike | Mirallas | Gueye | Everton | 1-0 | 4 |
| Sean | Sandro | Schneiderlin | Everton | 2-1 | 2 |
| Tom | Sandro | Sandro | Everton | 2-0 | 2 |
| Tyler | Klaassen | Keane | Everton | 2-0 | 2 |
| Zach | Klaassen | Schneiderlin | Everton | 2-0 | 2 |
Despite Everton’s less than stellar play in the Europa League third qualifying round, our writers are pretty confident in the Toffees’ chances against last season’s 13th-placed club.
In fact, only two of our writers have Stoke City scoring first (Calvin picked Ryan Shawcross and Chris picked Joe Allen), and none of us have Stoke winning the match. Brian L., Callum, and Chris picked draws, while the rest of us have Everton taking all three points at Goodison Park.
The majority of us see one of Everton’s new signings — Davy Klaassen, Sandro Ramirez, or Wayne Rooney — opening the scoring for the Toffees this season.
A breakdown of the picks is below:
First Scorer — Sandro 5, Davy Klaassen 3, Ryan Shawcross 1, Wayne Rooney 1, Joe Allen 1, Kevin Mirallas 1
Everton MOTM — Michael Keane 3, Davy Klaassen 2, Idrissa Gueye 2, Sandro 2, Morgan Schneiderlin 2, Jordan Pickford 1
Winner — Everton 9, Draw 3
Score — Everton 2-1 4, Everton 2-0 3, Everton 1-0 2, Draw 1-1 2, Draw 2-2 1
Think you know better than us? (You probably do!) Have your say in the comments below.