Everton’s season started badly with four consecutive defeats and although it has got better, it is not that much better.  In fact they even lost to Southampton at the Dell   Indeed, Southampton actually managed to beat Everton twice, once in the league and once in the league cup.  The highlight of their season.

Everton’s away points have come from Leicester City (a 1-1 draw), West Ham United (a goalless draw) and Ipswich Town (their one away win, 0-2).   And when we remember that the only team Ipswich has beaten all season home or away is the mighty Tottenham Hotspur (a 1-2 away win), we can see the comparative poverty of Everton’s achievements this season.

Of course, there is an excuse which is the extended time taken to build their new stadium on the banks of the river (a bit like Fulham but without the country’s most expensive restaurant).  Hence the 12 points gap between Arsenal at home and Everton away, and the 15 point gap between the teams overall.

In the last three seasons, Everton have come 15th, 16th and 17th although not in that order and in the last two seasons their top scorers have not only not reached double figures but actually only reached seven goals.  They perhaps look back to the heady days of 2021/22 when they got to the quarter-finals of the cup and their top scorers in the league again got seven goals but this was a success as there were two such players.

But their crowds have stayed close to capacity, averaging 39,042 this season, a crowd that by and large was (and I think remains) in denial that the club has ever done anything wrong, despite being hit with charge after charge of financial irregularities.

The Daily Mail (that well-known bastion of… well, perhaps I’d better not say) noted earlier this year that Everton were hit with two sets of points deductions in the 2023-24 season and that a report claims the club could fall foul of the Premier League’s PSR rules again – which would be a problem.

So with a stadium build beset by cost overruns and delays, charges from the authorities which resulted in many of their fans suggesting there was a conspiracy against the club (although no one could explain why the League would conspire against Everton when they do a pretty good job of screwing things up themselves), plus accusations of financial what-nots, these are not the best of times for Everton.   

Indeed just going back to those days of past expenditure, when the supporters of the club were suggesting a conspiracy, Untold published a few little pieces in which I asked why anyone in power in football would conspire against Everton, of all clubs.

There were a lot of replies from fans of Everton, but to my mind, none managed to explain why Everton should be conspired against.  After all, they were no threat to anyone, so why bother with a conspiracy (which suggests at least some of the rest of the league gathering together with the sole intent of doing Everton down.)

Anyway, they are currently in 15th, five points clear of relegation positions, so they will probably survive in the League ready for their new stadium next season.

The last six games table however offers little encouragement for them.  As they are in a group of failing clubs that have only won one of the last six matches.   However, it must be noted that Everton are, in the last six table, above Manchester City.

It would be a singular change of form for both clubs for Everton to get something out of this game away from home, although of course they do have the benefit of not having to play during the week, so that might help them.