Daniel Feliciano

Mon 13 March 2023 20:40, UK

Only one of 11 Daily Mirror journalists expects Everton to be relegated from the Premier League after their 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday (11 March).

The Toffees moved out of the relegation zone and into 15th place thanks to Dwight McNeil’s strike inside the first minute at Goodison Park, making it three wins in seven since Sean Dyche’s arrival at the club with great defensive displays.

And when asked for their predictions about the three teams that would be relegated this season, only Mark Jones picked the Blues to be playing Championship football next season.

Jones believes the lack of goals in the side will see them fall short in their chase for survival, and that they’ll join Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth in going down.

Darren Wells admitted that he expected Everton to go down, but he now is backing them to survive as Sean Dyche has made them far more difficult to beat, while Colin Millar believes Dyche has improved the team “immeasurably” from the “rudderless mess” they were under Frank Lampard.

Credit where it’s due

Everton looked like a sinking ship after the January window where no attacking player was brought in despite the team scoring the fewest goals in the entire Premier League and selling Anthony Gordon.

But Dyche has come in and really turned the team’s fortunes around, with strong performances and great defensive work especially at Goodison Park.

Winning those home games is key to the survival battle, as we saw last season when we managed it with one game to spare. Stringing those results together is key, but even though we’ve moved away from the drop zone the next games are key.

We’ll face Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United in our next three games and without points in any of those we could find ourselves bang in trouble once again.

But it’s good to see the feeling around the club isn’t all doom and gloom again, and hopefully we can help to push the team over the line once more to secure Premier League football for next season.