{"id":586125,"date":"2021-03-09T04:32:45","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T09:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=586125"},"modified":"2021-03-09T04:32:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T09:32:45","slug":"european-football-remains-evertons-ultimate-objective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/03\/09\/european-football-remains-evertons-ultimate-objective\/","title":{"rendered":"European Football Remains Everton&#8217;s Ultimate Objective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Despite\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/02\/27\/top-four-more-than-a-realistic-possibility-for-everton\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Everton&#8217;s<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a02-0 loss at\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/03\/08\/christensen-chelsea-contract\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Chelsea<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0on Monday night,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/carlo-ancelotti-confirms-everton-table-19994149\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that European football remains the ultimate objective.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Toffees sit in sixth place after the defeat in West London, four points behind the Blues\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.soccerstats.com\/latest.asp?league=england\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">who occupy the final Champions League position.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Everton&#8217;s European Football Aspirations Remain Intact<\/h2>\n<h3>What Monday&#8217;s Defeat Means in the Big Picture<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A victory at Stamford Bridge would have seen Everton leapfrog Chelsea into fourth, but the loss and the manner of the defeat, suggests that the Blues will be seen as heavy favourites for a Champions League place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Blues are still without defeat under new manager Thomas Tuchel, a run that was\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.soccerstats.com\/team.asp?league=england&amp;stats=20-chelsea\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">extended to nine games<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0against Ancelotti&#8217;s Everton. In fact, Chelsea are just four points\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/03\/05\/manchester-united-season-hanging-knife-edge\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Manchester United<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in second and if recent form is anything to go by, the Blues will be fully focussed on catching\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/65cb97b8\/Ole-Gunnar-Solskjaer?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Ole Gunnar Solskjaer<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8216;s side.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">For Everton,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/03\/05\/liverpool-ruthless-side-firmino\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Liverpool<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0remain three points worse off, whilst\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/03\/07\/bale-kane-tottenham-top-four\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tottenham Hotspur<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0have moved to within a point of the sixth-placed Toffees. Jose Mourinho&#8217;s side have won three successive Premier League matches to re-ignite their European intentions and will be looking to displace Ancelotti&#8217;s side in the coming weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Carlo Ancelotti\u00a0Not Allowing Everton&#8217;s Defeat at Chelsea Hinder European Football Aspirations<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Ancelotti re-iterated in his post-Chelsea interview that they are still striving towards securing European football next season: &#8220;Our target is to be in Europe.&#8221;<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/carlo-ancelotti-confirms-everton-table-19994149\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0He said<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;If we are to be in the top four, it will be fantastic. But, our target is to be in the top six, top seven to play in Europe next season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;This defeat doesn&#8217;t affect us because we are in the fight and, also, with this defeat. It is not the last chance, we have other chances we have to take.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;That is what the table says and we have to be focused on the next games. These are the important games, the ones that are coming.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"1HsQajLAQVR4Zb0PFenhYw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1306015227\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'1HsQajLAQVR4Zb0PFenhYw',sig:'Fa-SF9krbAFBq-D1s2pmhE2h8KwlMmiQPj6ww3zlUNc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1306015227',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite\u00a0Everton&#8217;s\u00a02-0 loss at\u00a0Chelsea\u00a0on Monday night,\u00a0Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that European football remains the ultimate objective. The Toffees sit in sixth place after the defeat in West London, four points behind the Blues\u00a0who occupy the final Champions League position. Everton&#8217;s European Football Aspirations Remain Intact What Monday&#8217;s Defeat Means in the Big Picture A victory at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3580,"featured_media":586136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,11,30,3],"tags":[145,40,1895],"class_list":["post-586125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everton","category-chelsea","category-news","category-premier-league","tag-carlo-ancelotti","tag-premier-league","tag-thomas-tuchel"],"modified_by":"Billy Mulley, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}