Andy Goldstein makes new Everton relegation prediction live on talkSPORT
Andy Goldstein doesn’t believe Everton will be relegated from the Premier League this season despite being just one place above the drop zone.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Thursday (4 January, 05:12pm), the host said he believes Nottingham Forest will also stay up after they appointed Nuno Espirito Santo as their new manager.
Guest Jonathan Walters, who is a Toffees fan, admitted he’ll be happy as long as the Blues stay up, but he questioned whether Luton Town have got enough quality to avoid the drop, adding that they need to make Kenilworth Road a “horrible” place to go.
“The bottom three at the moment, Sheffield United, Burnley, Luton, your side Everton above that,” said Goldstein. “Who do you think will go down?”
“I’ll be happy if Everton stay above there,” said Walters.
“Of course you will,” added Goldstein. “Bottom three as it is? Brentford? Forest? I think Forest now that they’ve got Nuno will be safe.”
“You never know,” responded Walters. “Luton can produce. Rob Edwards is a really good manager, whether they have enough come the second half of the season, you’ve got to really get some results at home, make it a fortress and a horrible place to go to.
“Luton can play a bit and get a result. I don’t know if they’ll have enough, that’s the only thing. Just as long as Everton are not there, I’ll be happy.”
“I think you’ll be safe,” said Goldstein.
Don’t get complacent
Although Everton may not be where they want to be in the table at the start of the New Year, they are only still in a relegation fight because of their 10-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s spending rules.
The Toffees showed more than enough in the first half of the campaign to indicate that they shouldn’t be in any trouble come May.
But it’s important that they don’t take their results before Christmas for granted after they had a fairly disappointing festive period.
Sean Dyche will be working hard on the training ground with his players to ensure their standards don’t slip and they get back to winning ways before too long.
It’s just important that they remain confident in their capabilities as a team and the results will take care of themselves to lift them away from the sides in the relegation zone again.
In other Everton news, Paul Brown has mooted a new contract for an exit-linked Toffees player.