After all the drama and chaos of the last few days it’s back to the humdrum of Premier League fixtures with Everton facing another ‘must-win’ match at Arsenal.
I’ve said before I don’t think Everton will be able to secure European football at the end of this campaign but it’s still a mathematical possibility and so they obviously have to keep pushing.
Realistically the Toffees probably need to win five out of their remaining seven games to have a solid chance of Europe next season, unless there is a significant collapse in form from one or other of the teams around and above them.
That’s also true because the Blues have a very poor goal difference and one that is considerably worse than any of their rivals so if they are level with one of them at the end of the season, then that will be a deciding factor.
Well tomorrow night they are facing another north London club Arsenal in the first of those remaining Premier League matches.
Everton could only draw with the Gunners bitter rivals Tottenham last Friday evening and that meant another two points lost on top of the four surrended with stalemates against Crystal Palace and then at Brighton in the previous two games.
In fact the Toffees haven’t won in five matches now and this is precisely the kind of form you don’t want in the season run-in. Why is it this club always seems to find a way to do this?!
The Spurs game was one that Everton should have won without doubt after what had been a very good performance. The home team were dominant for most of the contest after a cagey opening twenty minutes or so and played some fine attacking football at times.
After going behind to Harry Kane’s first goal they recovered well and took a deserved lead in the second half through Gylfi Sigurdsson excellent strike.
But defensive lapses let them down again and allowed Tottenham to leave Merseyside with a point they hadn’t earned.
This trip to the capital is not one Everton will be relishing as their record at Arsenal in recent decades, never mind years, is terrible.
The Blues haven’t taken three points at either Highbury or the Emirates Stadium since January 1996, only away at Chelsea is a longer barren run at another club’s ground.
On the plus side the Toffees away form this season has been excellent. In a complete turnaround from recent campaigns, Everton have only been beaten by Southampton, Newcastle United and inevitably Chelsea, on the road.
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They also ended a long-standing away-day hoodoo by winning at Anfield for the first time since 1999, so there is cause for hope from results like that.
At the time of writing there is no news on the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin and whether he will be fit to face the Gunners. It’s also unclear what Yerry Mina’s status is and if he will be available and Abdoulaye Doucoure’s absence is a continuing frustration.
Arsenal have been langushing in mid-table most of the season although there was brief speculation they might be relegated during a bad run at the end of last year that included a 2-1 defeat at Goodison Park.
Given how much they have struggled recently to maintain the sustained excellence they enjoyed under Arsene Wenger, it’s no wonder the Gunners jumped at the chance of a place in the European ‘Super League’.
They have come up along the rails recently though quietly improving under Mikel Arteta and would go above Everton on goal difference with a win tomorrow night.
So weighing it all up if the Blues can reproduce the sort of dynamic attacking football they have exhibited in their past two home matches and find that away form again then they can certainly win tomorrow evening. They also need to do so and end this run of dropped points.