A realistic target for Everton – Champions League

Nikica Jelavic
Nikica Jelavic

A realistic target for Everton - Champions League

Everton secured a dramatic 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park thanks to two late goals within a couple of minutes of each other.

The result keeps Everton in fourth place ahead of Tottenham and West Brom below them who are on the same number of points. The performance showed many positives Everton will need to maintain if they want to be considered a top four team.

The determination and belief that Everton showed right up until the closing seconds was superb. They have a never say die attitude which worked wonders in this game and gave them all three points when they looked done and dusted after Clint Dempsey’s effort in the 76th minute.

Everton have a manager who is not afraid to take risks. David Moyes took Leon Osman off with ten minutes to go which weakened the Everton midfield but gave them a great ability to move the ball forward quickly which subsequently helped secure the two late goals.

Evertan boss, Moyes, said after the match:

“It is as good a finish as we’ve had. We’ve had a few like that where we’ve lost and felt low so we were due one.

The position [fourth place] doesn’t shame the way the players have been playing, they have been doing that well.”

Moyes has guided Everton into the Champions League qualification phase before so he knows how to handle the current league position and situation of the club over the course of a season.

Persistence was also key for Everton in this game because they conceded the majority of possession. The managed over double the amount of shots on the Tottenham goal and just under half of Spurs’ efforts on targets.

This sort of relentless pressure is going to keep Everton in the top four over the second half of the season. They need to produce something similar frequently because their rivals for fourth place are going to strengthen in the January transfer window.

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