Would finishing seventh in the EPL be a good result for Everton?

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has made a decent start to his career at Goodison Park

Spanish boss Roberto Martinez has made a very decent start to his tenure as Everton boss.

The former-Wigan boss has kept Everton in a similar position to previous seasons and they were at one point seen as genuine challengers for the Champions League spots.

Slump

Everton have experienced something of a slump in the last month. The Toffees have suffered three defeats in four Premier League games.

However that statistic is rather misleading. Those three defeats have come at Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea.

In fact the only team outside the top six to have beaten Everton this season were Sunderland, who had a man advantage for much of their encounter with the Toffees, but still needed Italian keeper Vito Mannone to pull off a string of saves.

The Liverpool defeat may have been the hardest to take, but the 1-0 defeats in London were rather harsh on Martinez’s side. Both games could have gone either way and there was not that much difference in the performances of Everton and their far more expensively-assembled opponents.

Injuries

The crucial factor in Everton’s recent slump is the current injury crisis. Top scorer Romelu Lukaku has been out for the last month and that really has cost the Toffees, despite the youngster’s form dipping prior to his injury. The Chelsea loanee will return for today’s home match with West Ham.

However, what cost Martinez’s men even worse was the absence of first choice defenders Sylvain Distin, Phil Jagielka and Seamus Coleman in that crunch game at Anfield.

The 4-0 defeat was not only galling because it was a defeat to the local rivals, but because it was a defeat to one of their biggest rivals for the top four spots. Prior to that derby defeat it was all to play for and now the Toffees are 11 points behind their Merseyside rivals.

Had Everton stayed relatively injury free this season, no doubt they would have been able to put in a stronger challenge for a Champions League spot. A team with a relatively small squad cannot afford to lose so many players through injury.

Everton have had some terrible luck with long-term injuries this season. Striker Arouna Kone had hardly appeared for the Toffees before he picked-up a season ending injury, while highly-regarded midfielder Darron Gibson is also currently for the season.

Costa Rican winger Bryan Oviedo also suffered an injury that ended his season early and put his World Cup dreams in jeopardy. Everton have remained competitive at the top, despite the injuries.

Style

Roberto Martinez’s style of football has been a breath of fresh air. His football philosophy has been embraced by Toffees fans and there is a belief that the Spaniard has the managerial ability to take the club forward.

There were doubts about his appointment amongst Evertonians. Martinez had just been relegated as Wigan boss, but he had also just masterminded the Latics first ever piece of silverware beating Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final.

Funnily enough he was still highly-rated as a coach and a student of the game, even after Wigan was relegated from the top-flight. His charisma and sheer positivity is refreshing in a game full of managers who go out not to lose.

Martinez is not one of those bosses. The 40-year-old’s philosophy is in stark contrast to former-Toffees boss David Moyes, whose first priority in games seemed to be not to lose. However that philosophy breeds a sense of inferiority amongst players and fans.

Martinez has come into Goodison and attempted to wipe that out. The Spaniard has gone out to win every game, at every ground and that cautious philosophy is now nowhere to be seen at Everton. With Martinez in charge there is a sense that Everton can get results whoever they play.

Missing

Unfortunately one thing has stopped Everton achieving success this season under Martinez, which is the lack of a true striking alternative to Romelu Lukaku. Martinez made a mistake of letting Croatian international striker Nikica Jelavic leave for Hull in January.

The Croatian was behind Lukaku in the pecking order and needed to play games ahead of the World Cup in June. Lukaku was struggling for goals prior to his recent injury and Everton had very limited attacking options.

The Toffees brought in Monaco striker Lacina Traore on-loan in January. However, the Ivory Coast striker arrived with an injury and made just one appearance before picking up another injury. Just Everton’s luck this season really.

If Everton had a prolific goal scorer up front against Chelsea or Tottenham, the Toffees may well have come home from London with victories. Scotland international Steven Naismith has tried manfully up front on his own but that is just not his game.

The Scotland international is a decent squad player and has done his best up front in the short-term, but Everton need attacking reinforcements in the summer, as Lukaku will leave, as will the injured Traore.

Bright

Most clear thinking Evertonians know that Roberto Martinez’s Everton are a work in progress. However, I believe that Evertonians are encouraged by what they have seen so far from their intelligent Spanish coach.

Even if he has a limited budget, Evertonians fans have a big belief that Martinez can get the Toffees back amongst the elite, sooner rather than later, something that did not seem possible under the cautious Moyes.

Game

The Toffees head into their game with West Ham later today in seventh place in the Premier League table, behind Manchester United on goal difference.

The Hammers have not been so happy at Goodison Park in recent years, as Everton have a better record against West Ham in the Premier League era than any other team. The visitors have however won their last four games and could welcome back Andy Carroll into the starting line-up, after he served a three-match ban.

Everton are clear favourites for this clash at odds of 1/ 2, while the visitors are 13/2 and the draw is 7/2. Everton are favourites, but I certainly will not be writing off the men from London in this one on current form.

Would finishing seventh in the EPL be a good result for Everton?