Preston vs Everton Betting Tips & Preview

Everton to win

Preston North End host Everton in the Carabao Cup second round, and the away side look the stronger bet to progress. Everton have had their share of struggles across the last stretch of fixtures, but their most recent outing produced a win, and the overall quality gap between a Championship-level Preston side and a Premier League club should tell in this one. Our model puts Everton's chances of victory at 41.8%, the highest of the realistic outcomes, and while the market has them shorter still at 1.57, the pick here is simply that an Everton win is the most probable result on the balance of recent form and squad depth, not because of any gap between our number and the bookmakers' price.

Recent Form

Preston's build-up to this tie has been shaky. They lost their last completed league fixture back in May to Southampton, then needed penalties to get past Huddersfield Town in their following game. Since then it's been back-to-back defeats, going down away at Bolton Wanderers and then losing at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers just days before this cup tie. That's a run of one win in four, and the manner of that win — needing a shootout against Huddersfield — hardly suggests a side brimming with confidence heading into a game against Premier League opposition.

Everton's form line reads a little differently. They drew with Crystal Palace back in May, then lost consecutive matches to Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur to close out that phase of the season. But their only fixture since then was a home win over Crystal Palace on August 22, giving them some momentum heading into this trip to Deepdale. It's not an unblemished record by any means, but the trajectory is more positive than Preston's, who have lost their last two outings in a row.

Head-to-Head

There's no head-to-head data available for this fixture. Our records show no previous meetings between Preston North End and Everton, so this looks to be either a first-ever encounter between the two clubs or one where the history simply predates what we have on file. Either way, there's no pattern of past results to lean on here — this preview is built purely on current form and squad news rather than any historical trend between the sides.

Team News

Preston go into this game without three players. Callum Lang has been out since March 11 with a hamstring strain, Jamal Piaras Lewis has been sidelined since February 22 with a knee injury, and Theo Carroll has been missing since January 31 with an ankle problem. That's a trio of absences that have been in place for months rather than fresh knocks, but they still represent a dent in Preston's available options up and down the pitch.

Everton's injury list is shorter. Hayden Hackney has been out since March 14 with an issue described only as an unknown injury, and there are no other absences listed for the visitors. On paper, that leaves Everton with a fuller squad to choose from than their hosts, which feeds into the broader case for backing them to see this one through.