Louis Saha has tipped Everton to enjoy an impressive 2022-23 Premier League campaign, going as far as to claim they could challenge the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal for the top four places.
The Gunners narrowly missed out on Champions League football this time around, missing out on the final day of the season to their noisy neighbours Tottenham, but will be hoping to be in better shape in the closing stages of the new season.
If Saha is to be believed however, they could well have competition from other teams in the division, and he is tipping his former side Everton to thrive under Frank Lampard’s tutelage.
‘A lot of teams in the Premier League can be in the top six and become the challenger to the top four and Everton can be one of those teams, it just depends how you start the season and how well you manage the confidence within the team,’ Saha is quoted by the Metro as stating.
‘I think Frank Lampard has managed the situation of injuries and fixture congestion really well and I believe if they play with confidence and emotion, Everton can do amazing things next year.
‘The Premier League is so tough. It’s not just about whether you have the quality, it’s also about communicating and having that team spirit that you build throughout the season and emphasise with the fans. Those are the things that make a strong side.
‘Frank Lampard has a lot of quality players in his team, especially the strikers so the fans should have hope, but they have to fix the defence.’
It would be silly to think that a top-four finish will come easy next season, but of all the teams to be worried about, Everton aren’t personally up their in my thinking. I agree that they do have some exciting talents, but their biggest problem could be keeping ahold of said top players, with both Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both linked with possible moves.
Do you think Arsenal will have to weary of a possible threat from the blue side of Merseyside?
Patrick
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Got interested in Raphinha and did a little research on him. Usually people just look at goals but it’s not quite simple as that. Good players can play for bad teams which definitely can deflate their stats. I think Sadio Mane is a great comparison in this case as he played 2 seasons in the PL before moving to Liverpool, and Raphinha also as 2 full seasons.
Mane 14/15 & 15/16 (EPL)
67 appearances, 54 starts
21 goals, 9 assists
2.2 shots (per game)
1.2 key passes
1.7 times dispossessed
1.4 tackles
2 dribbles
80% passing accuracy
Raphinha 20/21 & 21/22
65 appearances, all starts
17 goals, 12 assists
2.35 shots (per game)
2 key passes
1 time dispossessed
1.3 tackles
1.85 dribbles
71% passing accuracy
As you can see their stats are very similar. Raphinha clearly being more creative, but having worse passing accuracy. Raphinha stands well in comparison with Mane when Mane was playing for a midtable team.
I think as per usual there will be several leagues.
This season I predict 4 leagues.
1. Liverpool Man City
2. Chelsea Man U Arsenal Spurs
3. Westham Leicester Newcastle Brighton
Wolves Palace Villa Everton
4.Brentford Leeds Bournemouth Southampton Forest Fulham
Here’s me who has supported Arteta during his learning curve suggesting that FL won’t be the one to bring Everton a top4 finish this season
He had one year in the Championship before getting the Chelsea job which for a club that is utterly ruthless, surprised me. It didn’t work out and it surprised me too, that he didn’t take another coaching/managing role to keep any momentum going in terms of learning and adding to his CV so for me -I’ve not seen enough to gauge his potential
And the tittle challengers should worry of a threat outside top two.Arsenal to be precise.
Arsenal’s greatest problem is inconsistency and lightweight players,
If we can make up for our lightweight with a lot of shuffling on and off the ball and somehow find consistency, either through players rotation or focus,
We could be contending for the title.
Everton a threat? In a parallel universe maybe but not in this one!