I see nothing to fear with regards to Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd. Their managers are no match for Ancelotti. We are not facing Wenger, Mourinho and Ferguson. It's Arteta, Lampard and Solskjaer.
Ancelotti is unquestionably a better, more experienced manager. But this isn't about manager vs manager. It's a team game. And they have far better than squads than we do to choose from.
All the pressure will be on Liverpool when they play us - especially if they are still unbeaten. Klopp knows this. They are also not in the form they were in, in the first half of the season. They are not blowing teams away now.
How will the pressure be on Liverpool? The league is wrapped up. There's no pressure at all beyond the pressure they place on themselves to win, which is perhaps what makes them so successful anyway. They'll have one eye firmly on the other competitions now. In fact, the pressure is entirely on us. We are the team trying to get our 1st derby win in almost 10 years, we are the team with something to fight for in the league. We are the team in desperate need of 3 points there, not them.
In fact, worst case scenario if the cards fall as they could, they could yet come to Goodison either as Champions or with the potential to win the game and become Champions, then the fan pressure will massively be on us to prevent that happening / rain on their parade.
We are in a false position. We should already be 4th. Our excuse is Silva. What excuse can Chelsea and Man Utd offer for such a low points tally?
Chelsea haven't been able to add to their squad and lost their best player in the summer. Because of that they've had to place a huge emphasis on youth, bringing in players like James, CHO, Mount and Abraham who've barely kicked a ball in the Premier League before. Man United have had their best players out injured for most of the season, while also blooding several young players similar to Chelsea. That's why they are where they are.
The reason we are where we are isn't solely due to Silva. It's predominantly down to the lack of quality in our squad. If we somehow finish top 5 then i'll be delighted to revise that statement. But it says a lot that we're so close and nobody actually believes we'll do it. We've even got to play the teams around us so, some would argue, we have a very fair shout.
But it's Everton. This is what we do. If we come out of the next 4 games with any more than 4 points, i'll be gobsmacked. And 4 points won't be sufficient to get us top 5.
