This weekend, Everton will face Premier League rivals Swansea City as they hope to bounce back from the controversial draw at Stamford Bridge last Saturday against Chelsea.
The hosts currently sit 12th in the league table, with the result at Chelsea giving them 11 draws – the most draws of any Premier League side this season. However, as they play Swansea (five places below them in 17th), Roberto Martinez’s side will be hoping for much more than another draw.
Everton and Swansea have met a total of 23 times in their history, with the Toffees losing only one game to the Swans, in the League Cup last season. The Merseyside outfit have dominated this fixture in the past, winning 15 of the meetings between the two; however, the fixture has been very tight in recent years, with the past three encounters ending in draws. Will another draw follow on Sunday in the despair of the Goodison faithful? or will a one sided scoreline prevail once more? We have a look at the last five meetings between the two.
19th September 2015 – Swansea 0-0 Everton
This seasons reverse fixture produced a dull, goalless game, with the highlight of the game sadly being a Kevin Mirallas dismissal in the 89th minute – 136 seconds after coming on as a substitute.
With both sides defending exceptionally well thanks to Ashley Williams and MOTM John Stones respectively, both parties attacks seemed futile, resulting in a lack of effort for the dying minutes of the game.
Kevin Mirallas was brought on in hope of an Everton revival, but was soon sent back down the tunnel after a late and dangerous challenge over the ball on fellow substitute Modou Barrow. This draw meant Roberto Martinez had overseen two wins and three draws in his five Premier League games as Everton boss against the Swans; the ex-Swansea player and manager will be hoping to add a third win to the list on Sunday.
11th April 2015; Swansea 1-1 Everton
Everton’s three game winning run was brought to an end by a Jonjo Shelvey penalty, which saw points shared at the Liberty Stadium. A disjointed first half saw the visitors go into the break in the lead through on loan Aaron Lennon, who calmly slotted home a James McCarthy cross.
The Swans started the second half better, however, as they won a penalty in the 69th minute after Irishman Seamus Coleman handled the ball whilst tussling with Marvin Emnes.
Former Liverpool man Jonjo Shelvey had the ball in the net for the second time in the day after a superb first half effort was disallowed due to a foul in the build up; fortunately for his side, this one counted.
1st November 2014; Everton 0-0 Swansea
This fixture was Roberto Martinez’s 200th Premier League game as a manager, with his Everton side going up against a Swansea side in which he managed 126 games in all competitions.
Similarly to the most recent fixture against Swansea, the main talking point was a sending off – this time of Jonjo Shelvey – who picked up two yellow cards. Shelvey also had pundits talking over his penalty claim, as his shot early in the first half struck the hand of Antolin Alcaraz, but was dismissed by Kevin Friend.
It was unfortunate for Everton though after dominating all the possession, as a sublime piece of defending from Williams saw Romelu Lukaku’s clear cut chance lead to nothing.
23rd September 2014; Swansea 3-0 Everton
The League Cup is renowned for producing surprise results, and it lived up to it’s status as Swansea City beat Everton for the first and only time in the clubs history.
The win was resounding too, with Dyer, Sigurdsson and Emnes beating Tim Howard in the Everton goal.
The Everton side was not the strongest, with Oviedo and Gibson returning from long-term injuries, and Muhamed Besic playing in his full debut; a mixture of this and the sheer ruthlessness of Swansea meant that Everton were sent crashing out of the cup in only the third round.
Will new Swansea manager Francesco Guidolin be able to repeat this huge victory on Sunday to clench their first league victory over Everton?
22nd March 2014; Everton 3-2 Swansea
The last time Everton beat Swansea was in the last few fixtures of the 2013/14 season, in which the home side beat Swansea City 3-2 at Goodison to make it eight straight victories on home soil for the first time since the 1985/86 campaign.
Two goals in quick succession from on loan Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley added to Everton’s first half goal from Leighton Baines. Despite equalising later in the first half through WIlfried Bony, and scoring another in the 92nd minute, Swansea couldn’t grab any points.
This result ensured a hat-trick of victories over the South Wales club that season, following successes in the reverse fixture, and in a 3-1 win in the FA Cup the month before.
