‘You’re right’ – Gary Neville admits Everton in Premier League relegation scrap
Gary Neville has admitted that he believes that Everton are in a relegation battle following their 2-0 defeat to Southampton at the weekend.
The Toffees suffered another loss away from Goodison Park, meaning they’re without an away win since August in the league and are now just four points above the relegation zone.
But after initially believing that Everton were safe from relegation after their 3-0 win over Leeds, Neville told his Sky Sports podcast that while he still thinks they will survive the Blues are definitely in the scrap.
“I went into the afternoon kick-offs thinking that ultimately we would probably be seeing Norwich, Watford and Burnley go down,” he said.
“Watford we know do that thing of yo-yo, Norwich don’t invest enough you don’t think to really have a go of it and they’ve been poor all season, or not as good as the rest all season.
“Burnley is the one where I thought I don’t think they’re any worse, but the rest of the league has got stronger.
“But then Burnley go and do that [win 3-0 v Brighton] and you think Burnley, Sean Dyche, this could be the greatest escape.
“If they get out of this it would mean that a Newcastle, a Brentford, a Leeds would go down. And Everton. I don’t think Everton will [get relegated], but you’re right to include them.”
Trouble
For all the good that Lampard has done at Everton so far since his appointment at the end of last month, some of the same issues still remain.
Away from home there is a real lack of balance between attack and defence, and without the presence of the crowd on Merseyside they have struggled to get hold of games in midfield.
If they want to survive to play Premier League football next season, Lampard must find a way to stem the tide when they’re not playing at home while maintaining their home form under him.
If they don’t find a way to fix that then the home form simply isn’t enough to carry them through, especially with home fixtures against Man City, Man United and Chelsea still to play.
Fans accepted it a while ago and Lampard has accepted it to so it was only a matter of time before Neville did, but Everton are definitely in a relegation scrap heading into the run-in.
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