After the same old story against Norwich at the weekend, The Toffee's face a tough test against The Gunners at Goodison on Wednesday...
The last two Saturday's seem to have been a return to the Everton of old: controlling the majority of a game against opposition we should really be trouncing, and then giving away our slender lead. I'm not going to take anything away from Norwich, who showed a strong fighting spirit and determination to get back in the game in the second half, although we seemed to do most of the hard work for them with shoddy defending, especially with having three Centre Backs on the pitch, two of those full internationals, along with schoolboy mistakes in midfield. We controlled the first half, but again its down to not taking our chances, and then been slack in possession later in the game, that has cost us - the Naismith 'cross' to Jelavić been a prime example. The one silver lining from that game was the outstanding performance from Leighton Baines; que rumours of his inevitable departure to United for pittance.
West Brom are flying, and leap-frogged 'The Spanish Waiter's' Chelsea into third over the weekend. The Baggies have hit form, but I can't see them worrying 'the elite' just yet. However, they do seem to be able to do what Everton can't, and that is hold onto leads and kill games off when needed; eight points out of a possible twenty-one, all of which in games we could have easily won, tell the story. We should be right up there!
But we're not.
On the other hand, this is probably a good of a time as ever to play Arsenal. They haven't exactly played well so far this season, although new signings Giroud and Podolski do see to be finding their feet in the Premiership. The fact that they're somewhat of a bogey team and always seem to manage to play us off the park at the start of matches before we fight back into the game doesn't help either. However, there is one big difference this year - no Van Persie. It's laughable how, after playing decent football, without any real results, some fans claimed that they were better off without their prolific 'Flying Dutchman'. I can't see it myself.
They drew 0-0 against a dead average (bar Benteke and Vlaar) Villa side on Saturday, so hopefully we can frustrate them and not concede an early goal. They will play 4-3-3, most likely - Sczenzney in goal, with Sagna, Koscielney, Mertesaker and Vermealen at the back. The midfield trio will probably consist of former Evertonian maestro and fan-favourite Mikel Arteta, along with England's only real 'World-Class' prospect for the coming years - Jack Wilshire; the talented Cazorla will likely play in the No.10 role behind the front three - Walcott, Giroud and Podolski, I would imagine.
By no means an easy game, but that team shouldn't strike fear into Evertonians. I still remember Bergkamp, Henry, Vierra and co. tearing us apart on the opening day of 2004-05.
They have sold there four best players over the last year and a half, and most of their replacements just aren't of that standard. While Nasri hasn't exactly tore up any tree's at The Etihad, RVP has settled seamlessly at Old Trafford; Fabregas and Song are playing for the best team in the world. On the other hand, Giroud and Podolski have been brought in to fill the void left by Van Persie, but neither are anywhere near his standard (although, to be fair, few are). Cazorla is probably a better player than Nasri, and is an excellent player - a very good buy from Wegener. Wilshire is back from his injury, but isn't the complete package yet - although for England's sake I hope he will be! Arteta performs well for them in the middle, but, luckily for us, he gave his best years to Everton. Thank you Mikel.
As for The Blues, we really need a kick-up the backside. We're not clinical enough with the possession we have. Moyes stated earlier that, apart from the return of key player Marouane 'The Fro' Fellaini, the squad will be similar. Hopefully he's just been overly-cautious and Mirallas and Gibson could make an appearance off of the bench.
Either way, the starting Xl will be similar. Oviedo performed well on Saturday, and doesn't deserve to be dropped - his pace would come in handy against Walcott, and he fills in well for Baines when he gets forward. Pienaar hasn't been his usual silky self (*cough* braids *cough*) in midfield lately, but I can't see him being dropped for this one. Jelavić should start up top, unless Moyes decides to put Fellaini there with Pienaar playing in the hole. I can't see that being likely however, so it may be the same midfield as Saturday with Oviedo or Naismith missing out, and Pienaar going out wide. Either that, or Fellaini drops deep alongside Osman and Hitzlsperger drops to the bench (this, please Davey, let Fellaini get a real hold of things in the middle) - Cazorla and Wilshire would run rings around Osman and 'The Hammer'. I imagine the back four will be similar, maybe Hibbert back at Right Back with Jagielka replacing Heitinga. Howard in net, but he needs some competition to get him going again!
Realistically, if we get lucky with returns from injuries, and show some of our August - September form, we could get six or seven points from the next three games - City away and The Spud's at home after this, if you needed reminding.
Come on lads! We've been awful recently. These are the teams we really need to be beating to stand a chance of getting fourth. Give it a rest and start playing some football!
