Equal odds in final game against English partners (5)

I believe the answer is:

evens

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'equal odds' is the definition.
'evens' can be an answer for 'odds' (I've seen this before). I am not sure about the 'equal' bit.

'final game against english partners' is the wordplay.
'final' says to take the final letters.
'against' becomes 'v' (abbreviation for 'versus'**).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'partners' becomes 'ns'.
The last letter of 'game' is 'e'.
'e'+'v'+'e'+'ns'='EVENS'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for evens that I've seen before include "50-50 chance" , "Makes equal" , "Smooths the odds" , "Presses" , "Odds on something very likely to win" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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