Well, it’s taken until April, but Everton have finally arrived. Sunday’s thumping 3-0 victory over Manchester United was by far and away the best performance of the season. Similar to the win over Arsenal last season at Goodison, we got players behind the ball and defended superbly, closing off space and suffocating United’s attacks. Going forward, we were a massive threat on the break and caused United problems from start to finish. We didn’t dominate possession, far from it, but instead we played on the weaknesses of the opposition. I said before the game we would get joy from their backline, and boy did we do just that. An excellent performance, and one which has perhaps restored some of the faith that was waning amongst some supporters this season.
And so we move to Aston Villa this weekend. Tim Sherwood’s certainly not everybody’s cup of tea, but he seems to have steadied the ship, and has guided the Midlanders to the FA Cup final at the expense of Liverpool, which is always nice. They’re definitely a different prospect to one that was brushed aside 3-0 at Goodison in October.
That said, they are still just 2 points above the relegation zone, and with the games running out quickly, they’ll have identified this game as a must win. They were impressive against Manchester City in their last outing, and deserved at least a point. One time Everton-target Fabien Delph is their key man, whilst Benteke is a handful. There are areas to exploit though. Brad Guzan has had better days than the one he had at the Etihad, as he inexplicably gifted Sergio Aguero a goal in the first few minutes. We need to test him early on. Their backline isn’t the quickest either, so we have to exploit that as well.
For us, it seems like it’s the same squad as the one against Manchester United. The only change I’d make to the starting XI would be for Mirallas to come in for Osman. Mirallas, Barkley, Lennon and Lukaku as a front four has the potential to cause problems for any defence. We got around half an hour of it last Sunday, but I’d like to see us go with it from the start and really give Villa something to think about.
We’re on a good run and with 4 games to go, it’s still somehow possible to salvage 8th place. So let’s take the game to them early on and shut Sherwood up in the process.
Up the Toffees.
