Pre-Season Preview

Everton looks to break free of the “best of the rest” tag and find themselves in the race for top six this Premier League campaign.

Everton finished last season eight in the premier league table after a somewhat uneven season. Under new manager Marco Silva, the boys from Goodison definitely experienced growing pains under the Portuguese manager. After a relatively inconsistent start to their campaign marked by highs (an away draw against Chelsea) and lows (a home draw against Huddersfield), it was their December match against Liverpool that seemed to have defined the first half of their season. Everton was able to hold Liverpool scoreless at Anfield until the 96th minute, when Divock Origi’s header put the Reds ahead and plunged Everton into the darkness of winter.

During the Toffees brutal winter stretch, the team only managed three wins between the start of December until the end of February.

The January loan spell of Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma seemed to breath life back into the squad, as Everton ended the season on an uptick, lead by stout defending. The Merseyside club was able to put together eight clean sheets out of their last 11 matches and started to find their scoring touch, most notably via talismanic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson who led the attack in the second half of the season with five goals and three assists. Everton fans will hope that the second half of last season is a preview of things to come, as the Toffees closed the season especially strong against the top 6 sides with only a loss against Manchester City marring their record.

Transfers

In hopes of looking to breakthrough, Everton were active in the summer transfer period in hopes of strengthening their side. The most eye catching summer signing this off-season is the 27.5 million pound transfer (initial transfer fee) of Juventus striker Moise Kean. The Italian forward, at just 19 years of age, is a wonderful blend of pace and power who helped Juventus secure their eight Serie A title with six goals in just 13 appearances. Kean will add some much needed depth and dynamism to an attacking group that already features the likes of Richarlison (who scored 13 goals in his first season in the premier league) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

The Toffees also officially brought in Andre Gomes from Barcelona after their he spent much of last year on loan with the Merseyside club. The Portuguese midfielder should prove to be a steady hand in the Everton midfield and will continue to be effective in setting up the likes Sigurdsson and the rest of the Toffee attack.

The big departure for the Blues is undoubtedly the loss of Idrissa Gueye, who transferred to PSG after a superb season as a steady defensive presence last year for Everton’s midfield. The team will look two summer signings to help fill the void that Gueye left behind in young defender Jean Philippe-Gbamin from Mainz 05 and Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph.

Fixtures

They start the season away against Crystal Palace with a relatively manageable schedule in their opening six fixtures, highlighted by two of the three recently promoted sides in Aston Villa and Sheffield United. Their biggest test in their early in their schedule will be against a very stubborn Wolverhampton side at Goodison Park to start the month of September.

With such a manageable schedule to begin their season, the Toffees will hope for a hot start to their campaign.

Manager

While Silva has certainly been active in the transfer market, the former Watford and Hull City manager still is keen to add more depth to what he believes is a thin squad for this upcoming season:

“We have to [be busy]. We have to. In this moment, as you know, our number is not really big. We need some more players.

“We lost one central defender. He was not our player but we lost him. We lost Gana, Lookman also.

“So we have to look for one winger. We have to look for one central defender. Let’s see in the middle zone if we do something more or not. Then a possible striker and right back.

“It has to be a really busy week. Of course, it is not the best things but our board and our football structure, they are trying to do their best to give us the conditions to be more competitive and be a better team.”

Targets

Everton’s aggression this off-season (coupled with last off-season) speak to a club that is yearning to challenge for a top four position. They have definitely brought in the kind of talent that can close the gap between them and the top six, but they will be hard pressed to be able to match the depth of those clubs.

The fortunes of the Toffees lies in their success or failure during the Christmas period. With a run of games including Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Burnley, Newcastle and Manchester City between early December and mid-January, their season will depend on how they perform during this crucial part of the season.