Former Everton man Don Hutchison has talked about one aspect of Everton’s season that has given him cause for concern.
The Goodison Park club gave their chances of reaching the top four a major boost with their victory over Southampton, as they now sit just two points off 4th-placed West Ham United with a game in hand. But speaking on ESPN FC, Hutchison raised his concerns that whilst Everton have done a good job getting this far, he is rather concerned about how well they have been playing when they’re at home, and how they need to sort it out quickly if they are to finish the job.
He said: “Everton have been terrible at Goodison, they’ve had some shockers, they were awful against West Ham, who beat them, awful against Fulham, who beat them.
“It wasn’t a great performance [against Southampton]. And the positives are they’ve got a home win, because they’ve been terrible at home. So they’ve had those couple of games in hand for quite a while and they’ve not really taken advantage of them over the last couple of months.
“Now they have, and they’ve got themselves the touching distance of the top four and a game in hand. Things are starting to look up, but they’ve got to win more games at Goodison. They’re fantastic on the road and on their travels, but they’ve got to nail down more results at Goodison.”
Will Everton reach the Champions League this season?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Don Hutchison’s comments about Everton’s home form…
Hutchison’s comments are best explained by the home and away table of the league this season where Everton have the biggest disparity in the league between points per game on the road compared to home games.
In their attempts to qualify for the Champions League, Everton are on the verge of completing something that they haven’t accomplished since the 2004/05 season, and to let it slip away from them because of their poor home form would be a pretty tough pill to swallow.
They have a number of what look on paper to be winnable home fixtures coming up between now and the end of the season, including some against the teams in relegation trouble like Sheffield United and Burnley. So if they can turn the screw and sort out their home form and continue their away form, you’d have to think they’d be in the driver’s seat for a Champions League spot.