According to David Moyes they are after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat away at Bolton. I don’t think that the bookies agree with Moyes’ view though.
Depending on who you bet with, there is 9 or 10 teams all at shorter odds than Everton are to be relegated. Although Everton are not having their greatest season, they are surely too strong to go down – or to put it another way, there are far worse teams than Everton in the premier league.
There are differing views in the world of the layers though, Bet365 have Everton at 25/1, while Sky Bet are as short as 11/1 for Moyes’ team to go down. On the whole, the price is around the 16 – 20/1 mark.
Personally I think 11/1 on Everton going down is a joke, it is way too short and dosen’t represent good value, especially when you compare it too the 25/1 on offer – which I also wouldn’t touch.
For me there main weakness is obvious, their lack of goals. They have a serious lack of strikers and this weakness is further exposed by the fitness record of their main striker, Louis Saha.
His dodgy record was again highlighted last week with him straining a hamstring and looking like he will be missing for another 2 weeks.
For Everton fans I suppose it’s a good thing that Moyes is taking their current form and league position seriously. Too say that they are in a relegation battle shows that he isn’t taking anything for granted and isn’t just relying on the fact that there are some awful teams around them.
There comes a point in the season when to hit a run of bad form could be terminal for your chances of survival – and that time is fast approaching. To get into a bad rut now would be disasterous and I think that judging by his remarks, Moyes recognises this.
Fulham and Villa have started to pick up, Birmingham are starting to pull away with their late goals and even West Ham seem to have started to turn the corner. Wigan and Wolves also look capable of getting big results on their day, but they don’t seem to be consistent enough.
On a brighter note for Everton, Blackpool seem to be heading towards the relegation zone and there is always a chance that Newcastle could find themselves down there too.
With 11 teams only seperated by 6 points it does look like it’s going to be an exciting relegation battle.