Everton among favourites for relegation

2nd Mar 2023

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After eight decades of stability in the top flight one has to wonder if this season will be the one when Everton finally are relegated? For almost 30 years the Toffees have hung in there in the Premier League but have they really ever belonged? The Premier League forgets the past, that's what it does best as it continues to sell itself to the world, it's aggressive marketing strategies have brought in countless billions to the league, but Everton, the great Everton it should be added represent the past in English football. 

Many things have contributed to that feeling, certainly at the height of their powers in the mid to late 1980s UEFA's decision to ban English clubs from European competition following the 1985 European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus did not help. It kept Everton in the past when they could have been advancing as a club. But from owners to transfers and making the wrong decisions haven't helped either and that means one thing; relegation and yet here we are in 2023 and Everton somehow have still never been relegated in the Premier League era. Last season was desperately close though as they survived with just a game remaining. This season the manager that helped them survive Frank Lampard was sacked although it was justified after an horrific start to the campaign. Sean Dyche has been brought in and immedialely there was change, a 1-0 victory over Arsenal at Goodision Park. Not any old Arsenal side mind but one who has topped the table for the majority of the season and may well win the league. But worringly it's been mostly downhill from there. 

There has been another victory over woeful Leeds but in his first 5 games Dyche has lost 3 of them and already his win rate is down to 40%. Granted some of the fixtures have not been easy in having to face Liverpool and Arsenal away from home but the club have just had a spanking in London to the Gunners in a game that ended 4-0 and that will do nothing for confidence going forward. Losing games at home cannot be an option either when you are in the bottom three and 70% of the season has elasped. Everton's last home game ended in a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa and while Villa have improved under Unai Emery those are the types of games where points have to be picked up. Long term Dyche may not be the solution but any manager coming in needs to have that period where change is seen, it was seen for 90 minutes against Arsenal and Everton cannot start to fold so quickly under a new manager and they can't start to feel sorry for themselves either. The clubs next 3 games really could be pivotal for the rest of the season, they will face Nottingham Forest (away), Brentford (home) and Chelsea (away) after that we are into April. You would feel the Toffees would need six points from those games and in other seasons one could look at facing Brentford and Forest and feel there are six points in those games, but can we say that now? Brentford are having a solid season and Forest have been very good at home. For now it seems that Everton and their fans are not getting off the rollercoaster any time soon and their Premier League status looks in jeopardy.

To be relegated: Bournemouth 1.30, Southampton 1.30, Everton 2.00, Nottingham Forest 3.00, Leeds 3.00

 

Chelsea have won just 2 games from their last 13 and the owners can keep telling us that Graham Potter's job is safe all they want, we know it isn't. A club like Chelsea who were European champions only in 2021 albeit under a different owner will still work in the same way. Chelsea are not just a results team anymore and haven't been for 20 years, they are a trophy side and they also want to be in the challenge for as long as possible. New owner Todd Boehly does not have the ambition for the Blues to reside in 10th place. Perhaps in his first season a deep cup run and 4th may have cut it for Potter but in the second season it would be about silverware, how can Potter at this stage conceiveably be able to start winning trophies next season? It seems clear that Potter has lost the dressing room what we have to remember is how many internationals there are in the side and those players let's face it would not have heard of Potter before, they want someone with a bulging CV not someone who has earned Brighton some impressive results. Without the back up of the players Potter is a cork in the middle of the sea and going nowhere. This of course does not mean that Potter has been found out or is a poor manager. He has proven at Brighton that he was becoming a very astute manager, possibly in charge of the national side one day but manager of Chelsea is not working out for him.

In a way the owners want him to succeed of course because someone in admin has made the huge error of giving Potter a 5 year contract. If Chelsea's poor form continues in March he could well be sacked and after six months in charge minus six weeks for the World Cup he could be paid £50m a grotesque figure that looks like haunting Chelsea for some time. The flip side is that the Blues form dramtaically changes and the quality of players they have decide to play for their manager, that seems unlikely though and Potter is the odds on favourite to be the next manager sacked.

Next manager to be sacked: Graham Potter 1.44, David Moyes 5.00, Gary O' Neil 13.00, Steve Cooper 16.00, Brendan Rodgers 20.00



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