With tonight’s EFL Cup clash between Everton and Burnley, fresh off the back of the hosts’ inspired away victory at West Ham United, there is renewed hope on Merseyside that a relegation-free season can be easily attained this year.
Having endured two gruelling campaigns of desperately battling for safety, this is a fanbase sick of always looking over their shoulder in the pursuit of safety.
Last season saw them send Leicester City and Leeds United down in their place, and the year before it was actually the Clarets. Somehow the Toffees continue to do the unthinkable, with Sean Dyche now seeking to add some solidity regarding their top-flight status.
Given the foundation their opening ten Premier League games have offered, a genuine focus on the cups is actually a plausible option for this term, especially given how wide open the draw is given Manchester City’s absence.
This is a notion supported by pundit Ally McCoist, who actually spoke live on talkSPORT (01/11/23) to suggest: ‘You mentioned Everton, why not? What an opportunity for them. They’ve been down in the doldrums the last couple of seasons fighting relegation. [But] what an opportunity to perhaps go and get a bit of silverware.’
When was the last time Everton won a trophy?
Despite their stature within English football, silverware has actually eluded Everton for many years now, seeing their stock plummet.
Older fans had become accustomed to seeing sides ready to challenge for the elite titles, whereas many younger ones have actually never seen a trophy lifted, given the last one came in 1995.
Since then there has been just one trip to Wembley for a final, losing to Chelsea in the FA Cup.
A miserable period that surely has to end eventually, it would mark the perfect culmination of years of frustration and pain to seal a return to reliable safety with silverware.
Especially in the EFL Cup, as a competition they have actually never won in their history.
McCoist backs them to do some damage, should they get past Burnley, and Dyche too will likely be quietly confident of a strong run should the draw stay kind to them
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