The only way to stop the pace of Fulham’s Adama Traore is to commit a foul and this is precisely what has happened to their pacy forward this season. The former Wolves winger has been fouled on an average of 1.88 occasions before he and his teammates travel to Everton on Saturday.

Anything to consider is that Traore has also been booked twice this season and if he is on a yellow at Goodison Park, Everton may look to rile him so that he is then given his marching orders – the way to do that is by repeatedly fouling one of the fastest players in the Premier League.

Raul Jimenez arrives on Merseyside on something of a hot streak when it comes to scoring for Fulham. The Mexican international has scored four league goals this season and they have come courtesy of a four-game scoring run for the Cottagers.

Scoring goals with regularity and also not afraid to take his chances when presented with them. The 33-year-old averages 2.38 shots per game and, more importantly, 1.25 on target. The kind of numbers that indicate that having at least one shot on target at Goodison Park is a realistic prospect.

Although Everton and Fulham have in form attacking players in Dwight McNeil and Raul Jimenez respectively, this might not be a game that lends itself to a whole host of goals and in our opinion, the maximum number recorded at Goodison Park this Saturday evening is three.

That opinion is based on Everton averaging 1.12 goals per Premier League game this season and Fulham averaging 1.38 while conceding the same average. Add that the Toffees have kept successive clean sheets in the league, and goals look likely to be at a premium on Saturday.

Goals may be at a premium, but that does not necessarily mean shots on target will be. The reason for this is Fulham’s numbers going into Saturday’s trip to Everton. The Cottagers average 4.75 across their first eight, with the high point being the 11 recorded at home to Newcastle last month.

On five occasions, Marco Silva’s men have earned at least four corners and two of those have been on the road in this season’s Premier League. They hit four exactly at both the Etihad and Portman Road recently, and that same outcome against Everton will be enough to tick this leg off as a winner.

Although Everton and Fulham can be accused of conceding too many corners this season – 7.00 and 5.88 on average respectively in the Premier League, their inability to earn at the same level may prove to be important on Saturday and especially when looking at nine total corners or less.

Saturday’s hosts have only earned an average of 3.75 per game under Sean Dyche since the start of the campaign, the visitors 5.50 by comparison, and if they can adhere to these numbers when facing each other, it may well adhere to this first leg of the bet builder getting over the line.

As we enter week nine of the season, Everton finds themselves top of the table – that is if the table was ranked on the least yellow cards collected. Considering Sean Dyche’s sides are always believed to play a more industrial style of football under his stewardship, this is no longer the case.

The Toffees have collected just 13 bookings from their first eight games of the season and even though Fulham’s own defensive record and their 24 yellows and one red need to be accounted for, backing under five total cards at Goodison Park offers the right balance between risk and reward.

Raul Jimenez is rightly getting the most praise within Fulham circles at present, but he is not the only forward on the club’s books who is capable of causing opposition defences plenty of bother. Thankfully for manager Marco Silva, he can also call upon the talents of Rodrigo Muniz.

Muniz opened his account for the season in the recent 3-2 defeat at Manchester City, but even with just a single entry on the scoresheet, he has still been a nuisance this season. He has 2.00 shots on average to go alongside 0.86 on target, and just a slight uptick on the latter will be good enough on Saturday.

Of the 24 yellow cards Fulham have collected since the start of the season, Andreas Pereira is responsible for two. Although backing the midfielder to be cautioned or worse against Everton is certainly appealing, it is the other end of a robust tackle at Goodison Park that interests us most.

This is because Pereira has been fouled an average of 1.25 times since the start of the Premier League season. With the Brazilian acting as the metronome in the middle of the park, this role usually draws in fouls from opposition players looking to stop him.