Everton will avoid relegation this season, but the Toffees cannot keep riding their luck in the Premier League, according to Micah Richards.
The Blues got their Premier League season underway in disappointing fashion with a 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Saturday (17 August) which was compounded by Ashley Young’s second-half red card.
Sean Dyche’s side’s defeat leaves them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table after the first week of fixtures and while Richards was worried by the performance, he thinks the Toffees will dodge the drop.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football (19 August, 27:30) he said: “I was at the game, I thought Everton did quite well in certain parts of the game early on.
“But it’s the same thing at Everton. The crowd was electric again, a couple of chances in the first half and they didn’t bury them and then they just got punished.
“That seems to be the theme every time and they can’t keep riding their luck. We think Everton will stay up because they’ve got a good manager and their set up really well, but when Ashley Young got sent off, it was just going to be how many.”
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As Richards suggests, the start of Saturday afternoon’s clash was fairly positive from a Toffees’ perspective.
There were plenty of exciting moments with a few good bits of play, but the Blues just didn’t take their chances, something which has become all too commonplace at Goodison Park over the last few seasons.
If you’re not hitting the target, you’re not going to score many goals. Dyche simply has to find a way to get his strikers firing, otherwise this could be another long and frustrating season on the blue half of Merseyside.
However, the opening weekend won’t define the season and there is no reason for the Toffees to start immediately looking over their shoulder. They have a chance to bounce back against Tottenham this weekend and really get their campaign up and running.
Hopefully, the Blues will stop riding their luck and show some genuine conviction in the final third. They’ll have to be better against Spurs if they want to claim all three points.
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