Everton’s winless run of matches continued but this time with a defeat against table leaders Leicester City.
Despite playing at home, the club suffered a 3-2 defeat to one of the most surprising teams in the league so far. Leicester were expected to be in a relegation battle at this stage, but they are crowned as the winter champions.
Manager Claudio Ranieri has done quite an amazing job to transform this team on a shoestring budget in the space of a few weeks. Everton, on the other hand, are struggling to impose themselves in matches and their poor defensive record has once again come to the fore.
Manager Roberto Martinez’ hopes of qualifying for the top four or even the Europa league is under major threat if this poor form continues. Martinez admitted that Everton have nobody other than themselves to blame for this poor run. Amazingly, the club’s last victory in the league was back towards the end of November when a 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa looks to have happened a long time back. They have slipped into the top 10 as a result of this winless run. More downturn may await the club if they fail to recover before facing a trip to face Newcastle United on Boxing Day.
“I think we weren’t at our best. I think the previous two games I thought we were fantastic for periods and the previous three draws were very unfortunate and on Saturday, up to a point it’s a very different type of game.We’re playing against a top of the league team, full of confidence and full of belief and you saw that. I just thought that scoring two goals against a well organised side should be enough to win a football game,” said the Everton manager after the latest loss.
