Richard Keys slams Everton live on-air, makes Premier League relegation prediction with Andy Gray
Andy Gray has failed to come up with an argument to rubbish Richard Keys’ prediction that Everton will struggle in the Premier League this season.
Demarai Gray left it late to score an equaliser for the Blues in their 1-1 draw against newly-promoted Nottingham Forest at Goodison Park on Saturday (20 August).
After the full-time whistle blew, Keys and Gray joked that Evertonians would be happy with the point considering their position before Gray’s equaliser but both feel the Merseyside club is in trouble.
“Well, Everton’s supporters will go home happy having forgotten about the first 80 minutes,” said Keys, as shown in a clip on the beIN SPORTS Twitter account on Saturday (20 August).
Gray butted in, saying: “Happy-ish.”
Keys continued, saying: “I think the bottom line is we saw two very ordinary teams head to head and they will be two of this season’s strugglers.”
Ex-Everton star Gray replied: “I’d like to form a positive argument to that but I can’t right now.”
Former Sky Sports anchor Keys said: “It wasn’t great was it?”.
Gray agreed and added: “But it’s a good result for Forest, a newly-promoted side going to Goodison, even though Everton are the way they are, that’s a point.”
Not wrong
We don’t want to sit here and agree with Keys but it’s hard to disagree with him at this point, which is what Gray seemed to think too.
Everton were close to relegation last season and could be this term too due to the lack of quality in the squad and growing concerns over the management.
Frank Lampard did what was expected of him last season by keeping Everton up but he only did so by the skin of his teeth and mainly due to how bad Burnley and Leeds were.
We’re yet to see a major improvement upon what Rafa Benitez was doing in the dug-out at Goodison – and yes, that was terrible.
As for as recruitment goes, Lampard is working with one hand tied behind his back – as Benitez was.
We’re happy with his defensive additions but the proof will be in the pudding for the likes of Amadou Onana and Dwight McNeil, who struggled with Burnley last season as they went down instead of Everton.
So far this term, our results have been poor and we were lucky to not lose against Nottingham Forest.