Michael Owen praises ‘big result’ for Benitez and Everton
Michael Owen has praised Everton for their performance against Chelsea and says it was a ‘big result’ for manager Rafa Benitez.
The Toffees were on an awful run when they turned up to Stamford Bridge with a depleted squad due to injuries and illness in midweek.
Despite that though, Benitez engineered a brilliant defensive performance and secured a 1-1 draw thanks to a late equaliser from defender Jarrad Branthwaite.
Benitez has been under mounting pressure from Blues fans after just one win in 12 Premier League games, but Owen was wowed by the performance they gave.
Speaking to Premier League TV, Owen said it was a ‘big result’ for Benitez and said they fully deserved their share of the points.
“It was a big result for them, yes.,” he said. “Pressure is mounting and then you think, oh, all these bad results they were getting and now the squad is decimated as well and now we’ve got to go to Chelsea as well. It almost felt like this is all piling up against them.
“But wow, what a performance. Great, gritty performance. You know, you look at the stats and if you only look at the stats you’re thinking wow, that’s probably a three or four-nil game. Then you look at the scoreboard and it says 1-1 and you think ‘how have they done that?’.
“But they did and they deserved it.”
Breathing room
With Benitez under big pressure to deliver results, this may have bought him some breathing room with fans.
The win at Arsenal brought a big sense of relief, but they were quickly brought back down to Earth with a defeat against Crystal Palace the following weekend.
But this performance showed some character among the squad and that if Benitez’s plans are followed, there is success behind his methods.
Everton fans need to get behind the manager while he’s at the club and give him a chance to turn it around and bring success to Goodison Park.
In other Everton news, club warned that reported January signing ‘isn’t ready’ for Premier League move.