Tim Sherwood makes Everton relegation prediction live on Sky Sports
Tim Sherwood believes Everton will avoid relegation this season because they have Sean Dyche, despite losing four of their opening five fixtures.
The Toffees have picked up just one point so far this season as they prepare to face Brentford on Saturday afternoon, sitting in the relegation zone already after narrowly escaping the drop in each of the last two seasons.
But while appearing on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday (23 September, 13:31), ex-Tottenham manager Sherwood admitted he thinks Everton will survive “by default” because of other teams being worse but admitted Sean Dyche will “need some help in January” to make it happen.
“I think they’ll be alright,” he said. “I think they’ll be alright by default because Luton and Sheffield United will get relegated.
“Then they’re in a fight with Burnley, Bournemouth, Forest, Wolves possibly. I think they’re capable of being better than all of them, and when they go head-to-head with those teams they will play two up front – Calvert-Lewin if he keeps himself fit will play with Beto. I think that gives them more chance. McNeil’s fit now, get some width and put the ball into the box.
“I think they’re in and around them [Forest], I think they are. I think Forest have done brilliantly and at the moment they’re a lot better than them, but when push comes to shove we’ve got a manager here who is used to staying in the Premier League who knows what it takes and I think they will get over the line because of Sean Dyche.
“He’s going to need some help in January depending on what other teams do. Forest are probably the outsiders there but Wolves, Bournemouth and certainly Burnley will be in and around it [relegation].”
Banging the drum
There seems to be a lot of faith in the football world that Sean Dyche is immune from being relegated, but that isn’t something that Everton can rely on.
He was well on his way to going down at Burnley before he got sacked, and a huge turnaround from the new boss there wasn’t even enough to save them in the end.
We simply aren’t in the position of putting blind faith in the manager and while Dyche is certainly someone you’d rather have in your dugout than Frank Lampard, he is underperforming right now and there’s only so long that can be allowed to happen.
Relegation is a very real threat this season and if Dyche can’t find a way to turn things around and get the team scoring more goals and conceding less, then we may need to find someone else who can.
He deserves time to get things right and turn it around, but Sherwood’s blind faith isn’t shared by the fans and we have to be realistic.
In other Everton news, Merson ‘shocked’ by what he saw from Toffees as he makes ‘Big’ relegation prediction.