Forget Spurs, Liverpool, City and Villa, without so many injuries Everton would be leading the battle for fourth

By David Maddock

Published 13:06 09/03/10

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For some years now, many people who love football have been looking for a team that could come and challenge the established order at the top of the Premier League, a team that could defy the wealth of the big four to break that cartel, and offer hope to the average fan.

We’ve been looking for a Brian Clough and a Nottingham Forest, a team that can combine quality, spirit, intelligence, tactical acumen, experience and youthful exuberance to emerge from the pack and make a serious assault on the title without the aid of benevolent billions.

Obviously Manchester City don’t count here, because if they do manage to break the monopoly of the wealthy ruling classes at the head of the English game, then it will because they have thrown even more money at it than the big four. And while that would still be good in its way, it doesn’t offer hope for a fairer playing field.

So if the challenge is going to come at all, then from where? Step forward Everton, and David Moyes. In recent weeks, we have seen enough to suggest that given a huge amount of luck and a fair following wind, they could do some damage to the usual running order of the top four next season.

It is my belief, for what’s it worth, that had Everton not been crippled by so many injuries earlier in the campaign, then they would be ahead of the tight battle for fourth place that is unfolding between Spurs, Manchester City, Liverpool and Villa. Had they not lost so many key players, then I believe they’d have had a stronger team than all of those sides this season.

Of course, injuries are part of the game, but not at the unnatural level that the Goodison club has endured, with at one time 15 players out, and only seven fit senior players at the club.

But it is, in fact, those injuries that lead me to suggest (however haltingly, because I’m nothing if not a realist) that if any side are going to at least challenge the cartel then it is the Blues.

What we have seen over the past 12 months or so at Goodison is a series of players who were on the verge of joining an elite group, before injury cut them down, and left them on the sidelines for months and months.

It happened to Yakubu, just as he had broken a long standing Everton goalscoring record, and was beginning to suggest that he possessed the strength, pace and nose for goal that could draw comparisons with the very best such as Didier Drogba.

Then Mikel Arteta was injured, just as it seemed he was being talked of in the same breath as the most talented midfield players in the Premier League, if not the world. The Spaniard had matured to the point when there seemed no one more gifted than him, only again for the injury curse to strike.

Phil Jagileka found himself in the England team and mentioned in the same breath as John Terry after an outstanding campaign had brought him to everyone’s attention, so naturally enough, like Yak and Arteta, he picked up an injury that kept him out for a year.

Then Marouane Fellaini tempted the fates by producing the sort of performances which reminded experienced observers of Patrick Vieira in his prime. His reward was a ligament injury that will sideline him for six months or more.

What all these players had in common was that they had taken themselves to the verge of joining the elite players in their position, had put themselves into a position to be able to prove they could match the best. And then they got seriously injured.

But all will be back to full fitness next season, after tentatively searching for their level since returning, in dribs and drabs, since Christmas. Yakubu is miles off and may never rediscover that heightened level, and Jagielka has started only one game so far.

But Arteta showed at the weekend he is slowly getting back to a serious standard, and if he keeps improving then I can’t see many more gifted ball players than him anywhere in England. Fellaini too, is potentially a complete midfielder, and the pair could create a formidable partnership next season.

With Jagielka at the back surrounded by a talented, solid defence, and backed up by a brilliant keeper in Tim Howard, and with the likes of Jack Rodwell providing youthful potential, and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov set to take off next season (I’m convinced) then there really is something to get excited about at Goodison.

And that’s not just idle conjecture. Anyone who saw them outplay Manchester United and Chelsea, take Manchester City apart, or compete at the same level as Arsenal and Chelsea again on their own grounds, will know that what I’m saying is right.

But there is one rider, I’m afraid. If Everton really are to make a sustained challenge for a top four place next season, then they will need to find a top class striker, and it doesn’t seem Yakubu is ever going to re-emerge to fill that vacancy, no matter what potential he showed before he got injured.

Louis Saha has that sort of quality, but he doesn’t have a body to last the season, so somehow Moyes is going to have to weave the magic that saw him find the likes of Fellaini again, to bring in a striker who an guarantee 20-plus goals next season. And that’s not easy.

He may also need to find a back up striker too, and some top quality cover elsewhere, which of course presents a severe challenge to a club that is not exactly wealthy. But we are talking maybe three players in the summer, and if somehow Moyes can pull it off, then I truly believe Everton can be the team we have all been looking for to provide hope for the future of English football.

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