Everton – Dynamo Kiev

Europa League has been Everton’s lifeline this season and the English side will look to continue the success in the competition against Dynamo Kiev in the Round 16.

It has been a long, long season for Everton in the Premier League, with Roberto Martinez’ side sitting on the 14th place and winning just 1 of the last 12 games. The Toffees are on the back of two 0-2 losses against Everton and Stoke and are not looking good at all. However, the Europa League has been something else entirely – great performance in the group stage, beating Wolfsburg twice and a 7-2 aggregate win over Young Boys in the Round of 32. With relegation not being an issue, clearly the EL is Everton’s primary objective right now and we will see them giving it their all, contrasting the usual approach of English clubs in this competition.

Dynamo Kiev is flying high right now – 1st in the Ukrainean league, virtually winning the title already against Shakhtar and some excellent performances in the Europa League. They cruised trough the group stages and knocked out Guingamp in the previous round after losing the first leg because of two early red cards. That was actually only their third loss this season, along with defeats to Shakhtar and Aalborg.

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Team news & lineups:

Hibbert, Lennon and Pienaar are definitely out for Everton, while Baines, Osman, Stones Oviedo and McGeady are questionable. Dynamo Kiev’s Rybalka and Belhanda are suspended, while Lens is doubtful and team news reports are expecting him to start on the bench – at best.

Everton: Howard – Alcaraz, Stones, Jagielka, Coleman – Barry, McCarthy, Gibson, Barkley, Naismith – Lukaku

Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovsky – Vida, Danilo Silva, Dragovic, Antunes – Chumak, Miguel Veloso – Mbokani, Yarmolenko, Belhanda – Kravets

Even if both teams are rather offensive minded, look for this to be a low scoring affair. Everton’s lack of form means that they will approach this game cautiously, knowing that if they are not careful, they can blow the tie from the first leg. They are scoreless in the last two matches so I can’t see them creating too many chances against a very solid opponent. On the other hand Dynamo Kiev doesn’t have the same offensive appetite away from home and they have some problems with key offensive men like Belhanda and Lens.

My tip here is under 2,5 goals to be scored and I’m very satisfied with the odds on the under / over market. Prediction: Everton – Dynamo Kiev 1-0.

Pick: under 2,5 goals
Odds: 1.78 @ Sbobet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 6.24
Event date: 12 March