The weekend got off to a flyer for Evertonians with the two teams posing very real threats to their fifth spot losing.
Spurs lost a London derby at the hands of the Hammers who showed great passion and fight against their local rivals, this being said Tottenham didn’t help themselves. Their shaky back four allowed Stewart Downing in behind early in the match, with Younes Kaboul having no option but to bring him down as last man (Kaboul, of course received his early bird ticket for the showers). Though nothing came of the resulting free kick it wasn’t long before the deadlock was broken via an own-goal off the head of in-form Spurs striker Harry Kane, he just can’t stop scoring. As if the early kick-off going badly enough for the Tim Sherwood’s men, the combination of Emmanuel Adebayor & Paulinho mistook the ball for some kind of extremely dangerous and deadly object whilst in the wall for a Downing free-kick that cut through the Spurs wall like a hot knife through butter. Yes, this is the Downing that used to play for Liverpool and didn’t have a Hammers goal to his name previous to this week that terrorized Tottenham. The game ended 2-0 and all was rosy on Merseyside.
Though no one expected Manchester United to lose their 3pm kick-off against strugglers Sunderland but as United have done so often this season, they handed the Black Cats a very large lifeline in the form of a 1-0 victory and their first win at Old Trafford since 1968. Ryan Giggs is finding this managing lark isn’t all as easy as it seems maybe.
To the late kick-off and Everton faced off against a Manchester City side that had no other option but to win at Goodison if they wanted to keep their title hopes alive. Across social media in the week leading up to the match there had been much speculation about Everton’s motivation to win the match knowing that Liverpool would essentially have their hands on the league trophy if they did so. Though as any rational person could see, the Blues wanted to win and the majority of the team’s supporters did too.
Everton broke away to a fast start with a goal from the Brazil-bound wonder kid Ross Barkley, Steven Naismith laid the ball back to Barkley about 25 yards out who struck it first time beautifully sending the ball arcing over the helpless Joe Hart. As the game progressed City tightened their grip, turning the match on its head and striding to a 3-1 lead before Romelu Lukaku got on the end of a magnificent Leighton Baines early cross to set-up a grandstand finish with implications all around the league.
The whole of Merseyside watched the final 15 minutes tick away mouths agape, hoping for an equaliser or even an Everton victory. Alas, the Manchester side prevailed, 3-2 the score and the title race is back on as Liverpool are now level on points with City with both having two games to play. This result also meant that Everton now know their final spot in the Premier League table will be fifth, a placing that will bring smiles to the faces of all around Goodison Park with the return of the much missed European games under the floodlights.
Personally, although I would have loved for the club to have achieved Champions League football I believe that it would have been a season too soon for the Blue to really compete at that level but the financial boost would have done wonders for the club.
There are still plenty of positives for Everton to take from this loss and also plenty for the England manager Roy Hodgson to think about before the World Cup in Brazil later this year. As the end of the season draws near, there is still one relegation place to be decided and of course the title holder. Liverpool face a potential stumbling block tonight against an in-form Crystal Palace side who have stunned many a team in the past month including Everton. This promises to be an interesting last week of the season, could we even be seeing scenes reminiscent of the last gasp City title clincher?
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