First home game of the season August 2015

With the first game of our 24th season in the Premier League looming ever so close it got me to thinking, what do we reckon the likely result might be. As always, being a statto, I had to have a look at the facts and figures to give me an idea! 

So as I posted yesterday on Facebook (Everton Page 1878) the last time we played Watford at Goodison, which happened to also be our first home game of the season, we beat them 2-1 with Andy Johnson scoring on his debut. Can we make it another win over the Southerners on the first game of the season?  Since that game back in 2006 it has been a pretty mixed bag of results for the Blues on the opening home game, from a 6-1 thrashing from Arsenal in 2009 to a very enjoyable win against Manchester United in 2012 beating the Red Devils 1-0. 

Last season and the season prior to that saw draws for the Toffees against Arsenal and West Brom respectively. Although I will say the 2-2 draw against Arsenal felt a bit like bad luck in a month where we went in front twice drawing both games 2-2! But that's the positive Evertonian in me. The most recent first home game defeat came in 2011 against QPR when the newly promoted side won 1-0. This is a statistic, along with our draw against Leicester last season after their promotion, that concerns me. These teams come up and want to prove they can play with the big boys. Getting a side like Everton as their first game in the Prem will make them want it even more. When teams that have more passion than EFC turn up at Goodison Park it tends to be when we falter. 

It seems looking at Roberto's first home game of the season statistics that this also rears its head for him as well, with a 4-0 defeat by newly promoted Blackpool beating Wigan Athletic in August 2010. Interestingly the month he signed Cleverley on loan from Manchester United. Whilst with Wigan Roberto never won any of the four first home games as manager with defeats from Chelsea (2-0, 2012), aforementioned Blackpool (4-0, 2010), Wolves (1-0, 2009) and a draw with Norwich (1-1, 2011). The same was true with his record at Swansea, with a draw with Notts Forest (0-0, 2007) and a defeat by the same team the following term (3-1, 2008). 

Spanish Bob's record next to Everton's doesn't make for much positivity for Saturday's upcoming game, however as my close Evertonian friends will know I like to be positive and I think we will be walking away from Goodison with at least a point. Albeit there have been a few defeats versus draws and wins they are few and far between for us Blues. I am hopeful we will take the full 3 points but with the prospect of a newly promoted team and the potential lack of our star striker, we could be in for a tough 90 minutes.