Paul Brown: Benitez needs to get Everton back to winning to avoid the sack
Everton have lost three of their last five Premier League games, drawing the other two, and Paul Brown reckons Rafa Benitez could soon be in trouble.
The Spaniard started life as Toffees manager on an impressive note, but injuries to key players have derailed his side’s campaign.
Everton are 11th in the table after 11 games, and the Daily Star journalist believes Benitez has to quickly turn things around to prevent being sacked by Christmas by owner Farhad Moshiri.
He told Give Me Sport: “Unless Benitez turns it around quickly in the next couple of games, by Christmas, if they are at the wrong end of the table fighting and struggling, I don’t think the owner can allow it to go on for very long, because it’s too big a season financially for them to be struggling.”
Possibly?
Everton have picked up 15 points so far, and they need to improve if they want to have a realistic chance of finishing in the top-seven this term.
They resume action after the international break with trips to Manchester City and Brentford before games against Liverpool, Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Chelsea.
They have an easier run of fixtures starting from boxing day, though, with Burnley, Newcastle United, Brighton, Norwich City and Aston Villa next, but Rafa needs to pick up points before then to ease the mounting pressure on himself.
Moshiri is not afraid to pull the trigger, and likely will not hesitate to if Everton are struggling in the bottom half of the table by Christmas.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Yerry Mina and Abdoulaye Doucoure could all be back before then, though, and that definitely will come as a massive boost.
The Toffees have struggled without the trio, but Benitez will not have an excuse if his side’s fortunes do not improve going forward regardless of which players are available or not.
In other Everton news, the Toffees are plotting January loan-to-buy bid for centre-mid hailed by Jack Grealish last month.
Be sure to follow Goodison News on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on Everton and more exclusive interviews with Kevin Campbell.