By Tony Attwood
Everton managed to play just two games in October so far, a 0-2 defeat at home to Chelsea and a 2-2 away draw to Hull City. In fact they only won two games out of four in September, beating Ipswich and Wolverhampton, each at home, each by 1-0.
The Wolverhampton game was of course a League Cup match – otherwise these were league games. And with Wolverhampton in seventh place in the Championship, (having won six, drawn two, lost three) and the club five points off the top position, this isn’t exactly a fly-away club.
As for the Premier League table Everton are in eighth, with the club having won two, drawn four and lost one.
| P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 21 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 18 |
| 3 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 16 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| 6 | Brentford | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| 7 | Leeds United | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| 8 | Everton | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
This suggests that Everton are really not making too much of this season. Indeed if we go back to last month, it is still hard to find much to be excited about in terms of Everton (other than their stadium which is now a year old, and like Tottenham’s new ground, still not delivering the expected results).
And speaking of Tottenham, on 12 September there was a dispiriting goalless draw with Tottenahm Ho and starting that month it was 2-2 draw with Manchester United. These were not, I feel, startling or amazing performances.
But for Arsenal, although of course Saka will be missed, we should remember that against Bayern (who are not that easy to play against) Eze came on and scored – and that was away from home too. Also we might remember the contribution of Viktor Gyokeres, suggesting that much of the media was just falling into its usual “Arsenal have no depth” approach, based on the fact that Arsenal simply don’t buy the players the media recommend each summer (which may explain why we won the league).
But Arsenal has been building up its forces. Last season a dozen Arsenal players started 20 or more league games, which shows both that there is a solid base to the team, and a range of players who can fit in when needed. And of course we also have the players who have joined us since.
And as the media is keen to tell us “Gyokeres could lead the line after Kai Havertz struggled for impact at the Allianz Arena” (Statmuse), and “Myles Lewis-Skelly is pushing for a midfield berth after Bruno Guimaraes was exposed on the counter in Munich in a way that Rice, without adequate cover to his right, could not absorb.” (Ditto).
The media however are also warning us just how difficult it is for Arsenal to come back from a mid-week game against a European team into the pressures of the Premier League, but surely our players are used to this by now, and generally speaking after playing against a European team mid-week the team come back to earth and pull off another victory.
The fact is that Evetrton have not won consecutive league games this season, and that is as good a measure as any about how the club is, or in this case is not, actually doing.
But there is another point – for the past seven years Everton have not finished above 10th in the league. Before that in the three seasons stretching from 2016 to 2019 they came seventh and eighth. In fact that last time that they were a top four team was with a one-off appearance in fourth in 2005. Otherwise Everton generally finish up further down the league.
Of course past results are not a perfect predictor of how a club will do this season, but the fact is that their last run in prominent positions was in the three seasons from 19085 to 1987.
And there is the fact that most teams that move grounds do not immediately do staggeringly well after the move. We only have to look at the length of time it has taken for Arsenal to win the league again, and note the failure of Tottenham (although to be fair they only won the league twice in their old ground).
Moving to a new stadium invariably means huge expenses, which in turn means that money that might have been spent on new players and the increase in salaries that those players want, is not available. What’s more there is the psychological expectation built up by fans and the media that the players will respond to the new ground and immediately reach the top of the league. It really doesn’t normally happen like that. In fact, the most common follow-up to a ground move is a decline in the league position.
Fortunately Arsenal have no plans to move again for quite a while. Tottenham’s decline however could go on for a few more years yet.
