Everton should focus on Europa League

David Moyes had his work cut out for him last season as number of key players were out with injuries but he, nevertheless, led Everton to the fifth place in the Premier League thanks to the great finish of the season. However, this season hasn’t had the best of starts for the Toffees even though the boss now has much bigger squad to choose from and it seems that top half finish is the best they can do this term. Maybe, this is the right time to turn to European campaign and try to go all the way in the Europa League.

The situation with injuries is now much better than few months back even though key players like Arteta and Jagielka are out on the sidelines. With new players Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov and Distain, and fit again Saha, Yakubu and Cahill, David Moyes now has pretty big squad to choose from (at least for Everton’s standards) but that isn’t helping the results. Everton are sitting in mid table after eight rounds after a couple of disappointing results against the relegation strugglers and it seems they lack some quality to match City, Villa and Spurs, let alone the title contenders. With top 7 or 8 places practically reserved, the Toffees would be better off focusing on their European campaign.

The fans seem pretty excited by the prospect of European football and they are already preparing for one of the biggest away trips in last 25 years. David Moyes’s team are likely to have the support of around 6,000 traveling fans in their Europa League clash against Benfica (Benfica-Everton odds) and this only proves the fans are eager for the team to do well in Europe. Everton have the team capable of going all the way in this competition and you can imagine the impetus they would gain by lifting the European trophy. I am not saying they should sacrifice their league campaign but without too big a chance to achieve a top 6 finish, maybe it is a time to prioritize.

Mikel Arteta and Phil Jagielka will be back for the decisive European battles and if the majority of players stay fit throughout the season, Everton fans will have something to cheer about. It may not be Premier League but I am positive they would trade say 7th place in the Premiership for the chance to fight for the Europa League title. Just to make it a bit more interesting maybe you should try taking odds of 15.00 offered by Stan James on Everton to win the Europa League.

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