{{primary_category}}
{{/primary_category}} 
Neville Southall shares ‘good thing’ about Everton points deduction as relegation prediction made live on BBC
The 10-point deduction handed to Everton by the Premier League is a “good thing” as it will galvanise the Toffees players.
That is the viewpoint of club legend Neville Southall, who believes Everton have a chance of “winning” the bottom half of the league.
The Merseyside club received an immediate 10-point deduction for breaching the league’s profit and sustainability rules [BBC Sport, 17 November].
“All it will do is galvanise the players, the manager and the fans into one, which is a good thing, but they must appeal as that is what everyone does,” Southall told BBC Radio 5 Live (17 November), as quoted by BBC Sport.
“They are playing well and the Premier League is not a great league from the bottom half down, so we have a chance of winning that little bit of a league.”
Still safe?
Everton were involved in back-to-back Premier League relegation battles in the last two campaigns, narrowly surviving on both occasions.
And it threatened to be a similar scenario this time around as Sean Dyche and his players struggled to get going. But there were plenty of promising signs despite the long list of poor results, with the team then finally turning their good displays into points.
Wins against the likes of West Ham and Crystal Palace, both away from home, and a draw at home to Brighton, helped the Toffees climb to 14th place.
But they have now slipped all the way down to 19th place after the points deduction, with their tally of four now level with bottom-of-the-table Burnley.
Everton are, however, just two points away from 17th spot and safety, with fans perhaps still confident of avoiding the drop given their current form and indeed the struggles of the clubs around them.
In other Everton news, BBC Sport pundits have slammed one Toffees ace live on air during a recent international clash.