Southampton At Everton The Preview
Sunday, 18th May 2025 09:09
It is the last game at Goodison Park and Saints arrive on Merseyside looking to gatecrash the party and leave Everton feeling blue, can we get an unbeaten run going to finish the season off with at least a bit of pride intact.
Saints have had a terrible record at Goodison Park in the last 47 years since we returned to the top flight in 1978 and indeed it was the venue for our last game of the season when we were relegated in 1974, a 3-0 win being too little too late and we went down to the then second division as the first victims of the 3 up 3 down rule.
But we won there two seasons ago and now we hope to make it two in a row and poop their party.
It will be an emotional day for the Evertonians and with these sort of occasions it can go either way for the home team, when we played Arsenal at the Dell in our own final game at our stadium, the emotion stirred us on to a memorable last minute win courtesy of a goal from Matthew Le Tissier, but when we played Manchester City at Maine Road it was a flat atmosphere and City whimpered to a 1-0 defeat.
That is what we need to do today, make sure that the occasion gets the better of the home side and do a job as we did against City last week.
There is nothing on the result for either team, but we do have a bit of pride to play for if nothing else.
Simon Rusk needs to keep things tight at the back and go from there, in the Everton squad will be our former loanee Armando Broja, the Albanian striker hasn’t had the best of times since leaving St Mary’s and with the Toffee’s it’s been a damp squid, in 10 appearances he has yet to score, so I would say it’s a good bet that he will do so today and at least get himself a little bit of Everton history to be remembered by.
All the talk on Merseyside is about the name of their new home, The Hill Dickinson Stadium, as you can imagine it is being called something a lot ruder by Liverpool fans who feel that it is comedy gold.
But Everton supporters are fighting back and there is talk that it should be nicknamed The Dixie, not only a shortened version of Dickinson, but the nickname of their greatest ever players William “Dixie” Dean.
But enough of the past, there is a game of football to be played and Saints have a job to do.
_Reuters_
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