Will Everton Get Relegated? Ex-Toffee Offers His Take

on February 8, 2023 at 6:00 am

One of the most fascinating storylines in the Premier League this season revolves around the question of – will Everton get relegated?

The race for survival in England’s top flight is heating up as we are well and truly into the second half of this league season. One of the most established clubs in the history of the Premier League is Everton.

In fact, the Toffees are one of the six clubs since the inception of the Premier League that have never been relegated from the competition. This is a proud football club and fanbase who are going through one of the biggest struggles in the club’s history as they battle to beat the drop.

Here at BoyleSports we caught up with former Everton player Pat Nevin who represented the club 109 times between 1988-1992. We started off by asking Nevin what he thinks Everton’s chances are of staying up in 2023.

Everton’s Chances Of Going Down This Season Now 50/50

Q. Following the win against Arsenal, how do you rank Everton’s chance of staying up?

I was convinced that Everton were more likely to be relegated than stay up. There are six or seven teams down there, I did not have a good feeling. The bottom thirteen teams always have about a 25% of getting relegated when the season starts, if they don’t start well, the percentage increases.

Now with the win over Arsenal, it feels more 50/50, which I think Everton fans will take if they were asked a couple of weeks ago.

But it’s Sean Dyche that’s made that impact.

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Liverpool v Everton Merseyside Derby Prediction

Q. Everton are playing Liverpool at the best possible time after their loss to Wolves, and a winning start under Sean Dyche. What are you predicting for the Merseyside derby?

Now is the best time for Everton to play Liverpool in years. You worry as an Everton fan every time we have to play Liverpool, especially over the last few years. But Liverpool’s weakness now, with losing Virgil van Dijk and looking sluggish, suits the way Sean Dyche will want his team to play.

This is the first time that Everton can go to Anfield confident of getting a result in years.

Dyche will need to make sure the team puts in the same amount of effort against Liverpool as they did against Arsenal, maybe even more.

Get in Liverpool’s face and be physical, Dyche’s plans are not complicated, but if the Everton players follow him, it’s going to be a horrible time for Liverpool. Everton will be going to Anfield fearlessly, which is astonishing if you said that two weeks ago.

Sean Dyche Brings Different Style Of Play To Frank Lampard

Q. What difference did you see in this Everton side under Sean Dyche?

Sean Dyche’s style is more direct and the Everton players use their physicality and height better too. Players are now chasing and pressing the opposition, which is the modern way to play.

There are areas where Everton dominates with their height and physicality, you look at James Tarkowski, Conor Coady, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Amadou Onana particularly, if you have all that and put in quality crosses, it’s unbelievably hard to play against.

This is nothing like the style that Frank Lampard played, I’m not convinced that the players bought into Lampard’s methodology.

Doesn’t mean it was wrong but it’s obvious and clear that was the case.

Leeds are the most recent team to be in search of a new manager and you can check out our post on who the top candidates are for the job at Elland Road.

Seamus Coleman Is The Leader That Everton Need

Q. Seamus Coleman was outstanding in keeping Gabriel Martinelli quiet. He looks to be a central figure in that Everton dressing room – for someone like Dyche coming in, how much does a new boss need to lean on someone like Coleman?

Seamus Coleman reminds me of what Cesar Azpilicueta does at Chelsea. They’re more than just leaders on the pitch, they always do the right thing. Azpilicueta came on the other night over Reece James and he was better!

You have to remember what Coleman has done for Everton, when there was real success at the club it was when you had Coleman on one side and Leighton Baines on the other.

There were other good players, but those two were the main players.

Coleman has the soul of Everton inside him and he’ll be boosting people’s morale in the changing room. Nathan Patterson has come in as a young promising player, if he’s fully fit he’s the future of the right-back spot for Everton. But Coleman is still there, he’s gone ‘no not yet, it’s still my position’.

Hopefully Coleman’s fight and desire will rub off on the other players in the changing room and I think Sean Dyche can see that.

Seamus Coleman’s Ranking Among Ireland’s Greatest Ever Premier League Players

Q. Where would Seamus Coleman rank among Ireland’s greatest ever exports to the Premier League? Certainly in the last decade there won’t have been many better?

There’s been a lot of great Irish imports into the Premier League, especially when I was playing, there were some outstanding Irish players.

With the longevity that Seamus Coleman has had, he’s easily up there with one of the best Irish players to ever do it in the Premier League.

Considering Coleman is not the tallest or quickest, he was always very good at everything and has adapted his game as it’s changed over the years, it shows his match intelligence.

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