Sunday’s disjointed performance at home to relegation strugglers West Ham, and the Goodison Park outfits inability to hold onto a lead, as they were twice pegged back by the Londoners in the 2-2 draw now puts extra onus and pressure on the blues to reap benefitting dividends from their final five games.
A season, engrossed in drama, fantastic victories against the majority of the ‘big five’, a glut of injury setbacks, two dismal cup exits and the LA wizard which reinvigorated the team certainly means this campaign will not be consigned to the history books too quickly.
Aston Villa, Blackburn and Stoke represent the away day challenges left to the blues to saunter, whilst Fulham and a last game of the season test awaits against relegation certainties Portsmouth. Perhaps, there are some winnable encounters in the list, but Everton have it all to do if they are going to overhaul Aston Villa, currently placed one place above the blues in 7th place with a four point gap separating them.
Everton skipper Phil Neville remains confident about the ability of his side: “The reality is we can beat any team in this league with this set of players”. A set of players which has not been a complete pack of cards for Moyes in a long while. Whilst key men in Phil Jagielka and Mikel Arteta have both battled back from serious knee injuries this term, it has only appeared to be brief rest bite for the Toffees boss with the in-form Marouane Fellaini and now Dan Gosling out injured for the foreseeable future. The injury table cannot shed all of the blame though for a season, which started poorly, but has been rekindled well by the Goodison outfit.
Mikel Arteta (above) will need to be fit and ready for the toffees run-in if they are to challenge for a Europa League berth.
Last season’s fifth place finish and Everton’s appearance in the FA Cup Final was a remarkable achievement, but a summer devoid of any transfer activity, until the very last minute, just moments before the ‘Transfer Deadline’ and a poor start in the league meant the chances of repeating the preceding seasons effort are a long gone distant memory. Despite, two dreadful exits from the FA Cup and Europa League, a resurgent Everton have found their feet at Goodison again and in 2010 they remain one of the premier leagues form sides. But do they have enough left to sneak into the Europa League slots once again this time out?
A gut feeling, probably echoed by David Moyes is that they have ridden the storm too late, though if they can make use of the ‘easier’ fixtures they have in the run-in then who knows. The return, again, of Mikel Arteta is integral for Everton as he is one of the only prevalent figures who has the ability to conjure up something out of nothing. Arteta’s fitness will be tried and tested valiantly over the next week or so before Everton’s trip to Villa Park, and it might just be the key to whether a rainbow or clouded sky is pictured in the Toffees horizon come what May.
