As most weekends have provided nothing but misery were Everton are concerned this season, the latest international break was not the unwelcome inconvenience it normally is. “I’d rather be bored than miserable”. Indeed. Let’s be fair though, we’ve won the last two league games, although the win at QPR wasn’t pretty, but then you would have known that was going to be the case if you had read my preview for that game. We’d just come back from a good seeing to in Kiev and they were fighting for their lives, it was never going to be a classic. But we won. We rode our luck, but we won, and that puts any lingering relegation fears all but to bed. So can we enjoy the rest of the season? Can we make a late charge for the top half? It would be nice to salvage a top 10 position I suppose, but I’d say we’d have to win 5 or 6 of the last 8 games to do so.
For what it’s worth, 5 of those games are at Goodison, with the first against high flying Southampton on Saturday, 3pm. There haven’t been too many of those this season. The fixture at St. Mary’s last December was pretty bad, even by this season’s standards. A comprehensive 3-0 defeat, in which Roberto refused to make a substitution if I recall correctly. That result really set the ball rolling in our Christmas/New Year capitulation.
Like a lot of people, I have a great deal of respect for Southampton and what they have done this season. Many so-called “experts” had written them off to the Championship before a ball was kicked, but as it stands they are right in the mix for Europe. I never thought they would get relegated, but likewise I never expected them to be where they are now. There are some seriously grim teams in this league, but Southampton are a good footballing side, and have been since they were promoted, so fair play to them. They’re no world beaters though, and we should have enough about us to avenge the defeat earlier in the season. Graziano Pelle hasn’t scored in the league for a while. I wonder when the last tim… ah of course, against Everton, naturally. Defensively they’ve been excellent, but an injury to Fraser Forster means Kelvin Davis will be between the sticks for them. He is ancient, so we need to test him.
It’s a game that provides us with an opportunity to show if we really have turned some sort of corner. In terms of how we’ll line up, we may find ourselves reverting back to 4-5-1 after both Lukaku and Kone picked up injuries against QPR. It looks like Kone should be fit, but Lukaku is rated 50/50. Mirallas and Pienaar look like they could they could be in contention, but I’d be surprised if either start over Lennon and Osman. Gibson is doubt so like it or not, Barry will more than likely return in midfield.
Roberto has said everyone is “fighting for their futures” at Everton, so hopefully that’s reflected on the pitch on Saturday. We haven’t beaten anyone decent in the league this season, and whilst they won’t be winning the league any time soon, a victory against them on Saturday will have been well earned.
