October 17, 2015 15:00pm – Goodison Park

In the pick of the Barclays Premier League 15:00pm kick-offs this Saturday, seventh-ranked Everton welcome northwest rivals Manchester United to Goodison Park.

Everton are unbeaten in five games and are one of only three Premier League teams with just a single defeat to their name this season – the others being Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Despite their resilience, it is their habit of drawing games that has kept them out of the top-four places in recent weeks.

So far this season, half of Everton’s games have finished level and that total has been divided equally between home and away matches. Their only home win came against an under-performing Chelsea team while their only defeat on Merseyside came against table-toppers Manchester City. Overall, the Toffees have a better record when playing on the road.

Manchester United have lost two of their last five including their most recent game away to Arsenal when they were comfortably beaten by a 3-0 margin at the Emirates. Away from home, they have two defeats and two wins to their name. Their last nine matches in all competitions finished with Over 2.5 goals and their last five Premier League games have also produced this result.

Roberto Martinez is still without Leighton Baines but Tom Cleverley, Muhamaed Besic and John Stones could all be available for selection after recovering from various injuries.

Meanwhile, United boss Louis van Gall also has injury concerns with Michael Carrick, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Wayne Rooney, Ander Herrera and Marcus Rojo all on the doubtful list. Luke Shaw remains the only long-term absentee from the first XI.

Today’s odds and predictions

The bookies will have the Red Devils as favourites for this one but the Toffees are tough to beat at home. With Everton’s penchant for a stalemate and United’s patchy away form, the draw looks like very tempting at 23/10 with Betfair. In the Halftime/Fulltime market, the Draw/Draw is available at 9/2 with Bet365.