Toffee Time

Article by Paul Glanfield

This season represents a huge opportunity for Everton to break into the top four, albeit largely down to players whom they don’t actually own. It seems fair to say that Everton have benefitted from other Premier League sides not taking them seriously in the summer as a threat to their own dominance. Chelsea, for instance, would never have loaned Romelu Lukaku to Spurs or Arsenal regardless of the London rivalry, because the fear would be that such an addition to their rivals squads may assist them in competing directly with Chelsea for the same goals, but felt strengthening Everton would not negatively affect their own season as the Toffees were not likely to be competing at the same level. At the moment that may look slightly misjudged, with Everton hot on the Londoners heels and having defeated them earlier in the season.

Despite this Chelsea are still ahead of Everton in the table and would expect things to remain that way for the foreseeable future. When you are Chelsea under Jose Mourinho the thought of finishing below Everton is not even one to be entertained, because the aim is to win the league and the idea of finishing below Everton would almost certainly mean you hadn’t even made the top four. Although you can’t rule it out totally, the likelihood is that Chelsea will finish higher than the Merseysiders and hence the strengthening of Everton is not an issue to Chelsea, although the rationale behind arguably letting their best striker go in Lukaku is still open to debate. One thing is for sure, Lukaku looks a Premier League power house at the moment and the chances are long term Chelsea will have played their hand just right when Lukaku finally becomes the Stamford Bridge revelation many thought he would already be by now. The other advantage for Chelsea is that Lukaku is helping Everton take points off their more regular rivals, such as evidenced in Wednesday evenings victory at Old Trafford. Chelsea may well reap the rewards of this deal all round come the end of the season with a distant chasing pack behind them and a sparkling Lukaku returning to them for the following season.

In addition to Lukaku leading the line superbly you have a born again Gareth Barry and Deulofeu, again both coming in as squad players from arguably superior clubs. The combination of these loan signings in addition to a settled squad has more than made up for the loss of Marouane Fellaini, and Everton look like a solid unit of committed professionals playing with belief in their own ability.

The management change seems to be working wonders too. Everton have consistently been one of the most organised defensive sides for the past few seasons under David Moyes, so Roberto Martinez may well be benefitting considerably from the work of his predecessor. Often questioned at Wigan over his sides tendencies to ship needless goals, the Spaniard has the good fortune of inheriting a long standing organised defensive unit within his new side. Where Martinez looks to be progressing things is adding the kind of attacking guile and fluidity to Everton that he used to good effect in pockets at Wigan, and combined with the quality of player the Toffees have acquired over the summer things seem to be clicking into place very nicely indeed.

Aspirations of a top four finish are well founded at the moment, not least because of Everton’s faltering rivals for Champions League qualification. Whilst Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea look well placed for the top three spots, Manchester United look in danger of missing out on the top four if they cannot solve the riddles that have plagued their early season form. Liverpool have been superb for the first few months of the season but it is hard to see them putting any serious daylight between themselves and the other top four hopefuls, whilst Spurs still look like a prime example of too many cooks spoiling the broth served up by the one man microwave ready meal that was served up time and time again last season by Gareth Bale. It’s hard to say Everton won’t ultimately be overhauled by any of these sides, but of the rivals just mentioned they seem to be the side with the most positive momentum overall from the season thus far, with Liverpool admittedly not far behind in that respect.

The race for the top four will prove fascinating for the remainder of the season and at the moment it’s hard to put it past Everton from grabbing a well deserved shot at the big time come May. Everton have assembled a decent squad and the man in charge has banished early concerns over his big job credibility. Combined with the potential weakness of their rivals, the Toffees may well be on the verge of something very sweet indeed.

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