Gerry Mandering - Football Correspondent: previews and match reports, Friday 6 November 2026

Gerry Mandering, 86. Rarely wrong. When he is, blame the ref.

Premier League

Everton v Coventry

Gerry’s preview: Gerry: Good Luck With That

Everton sit 7th in the Premier League on 13 points. Coventry are 16th on 9. The gap looks small until you look closer. Over the last 4 gameweeks, Everton have won 1, drawn 1, lost 2, scoring 3 and conceding 6. Their defence is currently a sieve, which is generous, really. It is more like open netting for a garden shed where everything falls through to the other side.

Coventry’s numbers look better on paper. They have won 2, lost 2, scoring 8 and conceded 6 over the same stretch. However, their away record is W1 D0 L3. Home form flatters them; road games expose the cracks. I suspect this will be another evening of chasing shadows rather than finding goals.

Let us talk about Striker Force, where reality goes to die. Rudoni has 3 goals in the last 4 weeks, yet his price is £13.8m (up £5.4m) and he is owned by 0% of managers. Sakamoto and Awoniyi both scored once, prices up £6.8m to £9.8m, also 0% ownership. Barry has 2 goals, up £5m to £14.9m, again 0%. Nobody owns anyone who scores. Either your fantasy teams are haunted or you have never opened the app since launch. Choose one. It doesn't matter which.

Now the computer. It gives Everton a 10% chance to win at home against a side with a broken backline on paper but real legs. The draw? 45%. Coventry winning? Also 45%. A 45% chance for two different outcomes, with the actual host team getting less than a coin flip. In my day, we called this 'hope'. Now it’s an algorithmic shrug. If a model gives away their own side's chances like that, I’d check if they had left the gas on.

So here we go. Two leaky defenses, several players possibly missing, and a market full of ghosts who score but aren’t kept. My prediction stands as printed: Everton 2-0 Coventry. Write it down.

Gerry’s call: Everton 2–0 Coventry

Championship

Derby v Bolton

Gerry’s preview: Gerry: Derby have lost their heads and most of their legs.

Derby sit bottom on 7 points. They are not just bad; they are actively hostile to winning. Over the last 4 gameweeks, they have managed no wins, drawing twice and losing four times while conceding 15 goals. That is more than one goal per game against teams that should have been easier to deal with.

The injury list reads like a medical conference programme. Agyemang has an Achilles tendon issue. Clarke has a calf problem. Forsyth is out with a knee complaint. Murkin has hurt his hamstring. Between them, these men seem determined to keep Derby’s defence from ever lining up together again. Cashin is inactive, Taylor is injured, Langas is unavailable, Ward is questionable. It looks like a team selection based on who can stand up without assistance.

Bolton are in rare form away from home, unbeaten in their last 4 league matches with three wins and a draw. Their attacking threat comes through Dalby, who has scored 3 times in the same period. His price is up £4.4m to £17m, yet zero managers own him. This suggests your collective judgement is either asleep or profoundly mistaken about value. The computer gives Derby only a 10% chance of winning, which feels generous considering their recent inability to score. I would expect less confidence, not more.

Head-to-head, Derby won 3 of the last 5 meetings, but football memory is short when results turn this ugly. With so many players sidelined, it will be difficult for them to maintain structure against a Bolton side that has shown defensive resilience over similar stretches. If there is any optimism left at Pride Park, it rests solely on individual heroics rather than tactical coherence.

This match smells of frustration. A Friday night kick-off means the crowd arrives before they fully grasp how dire things have become. They leave wondering what could possibly go wrong next week. My prediction remains cautious given the absence of key personnel from both sides, though Bolton’s solidity points toward an edge. Derby 1-2 Bolton. Write it down.

Gerry’s call: Derby 1–2 Bolton