Arteta targets seven more wins to earn Everton European spot
Published 23:00 19/03/10 By David Maddock
Mikel Arteta has set his Everton side a target of a minimum of seven more wins, as he shoots for a European place.
The Spanish midfielder is desperate to end the season on a high, with the Blues emerging from a nightmare start to the campaign to become possibly the form team in the Premier League right now.
Everyone at Goodison believes that the team is better than their current league position of ninth, and while the gap of 10 points to Spurs in fourth means a Champions' League place is probably out of reach, Arteta believes the Europa League is still very much in sight.
"We all have to fight for a European place now, we need to take something from this season and a European place would allow us to do that," Arteta said.
"It is a difficult target because we need to be really consistent in our final games. We have nine games left and because there are so many teams in the same fight as us we need to win at least six or seven of them.
"But we have the quality and we are on an important run, and we can do that, we can put together some wins and give ourselves a chance to be in there."
Everton have a relatively straight-forward run in to their Premier League campaign, and manager David Moyes is hoping they can finish strongly, starting with a win over Bolton at Goodison today.
After an injury ravaged campaign there is something of an irony in the fact that he finally has an almost fully fit squad to choose from, with Louis Saha the latest player to return from injury.
The Blues have won their last six home games, and their manager is adamant that his team have to continue that run right until the last day.
"When I took over I used to think Everton would get themselves in a safe position by Easter and then knock off - and we had to knock that out of them quickly," he said.
"They are playing well now and have been for the last two or three months. We have had the odd blip here and there but overall I have been really pleased with how they have done.
"But if we want to finish the season on a high we are going to have to continue winning at Goodison, and the players understand that."
