Everton v Lyon Betting: Goals galore as Toffees look for much-needed win

Everton will be desperate to get their Europa League campaign up and running when Lyon visit Goodison Park on Thursday.

Having taken just a point from their opening two group games to make theirs the worst start to a Europa League campaign by any English side, Ronald Koeman’s men are available at 8/5 (2.60) with SportPesa to finally secure a win at the third attempt.

With three defeats and no wins to their name in the last four away matches in this competition, Les Gones are priced at 17/10 (2.70) to compound their opponents’ misery by coming out on top in this one.

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The guests have drawn both of their opening Group E fixtures so far, and are on offer at 12/5 (3.40) to earn themselves a share of the spoils yet again on this occasion.

After all the pre-season optimism that accompanied the Toffees’ eye-catching transfer business, things seem to have gone from bad to worse in recent matches as Koeman find himself under more pressure every day.

While a run of four consecutive defeats over August and September can be partly explained by an unfavourable fixture list, two draws and a defeat from the last three matches against Apollon, Burnley and Brighton are a little more difficult to ignore.

A return of just three goals in those three games has underlined how much the Merseyside outfit are missing Romelu Lukaku, with the attack looking rather slow and ponderous without his energetic presence.

Although they should fancy their chances of improving on that poor attacking record against a backline that has conceded 12 times in the last six fixtures, Koeman’s men should be wary of their own defensive performance considering their only clean sheet in 11 came against Championship side Sunderland.

Having found the net three times in three of their last four matches and averaging two goals per game this season, Lyon look well worth the 10/13 (1.77) odds to ensure over 2.5 are scored for Everton’s third consecutive Europa League clash, as well as their own eighth in nine on the road.