Everton ‘lead the way’ for top four spot says David Moyes

Jan 19 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

UPBEAT David Moyes believes Everton “have the advantage” in the race for the final Champions League qualification berth.

The Goodison Park outfit go into tomorrow’s Premier League trip to Wigan Athletic having joined Manchester City and Aston Villa alongside fourth-placed Liverpool on 39 points in the table.

Moyes’s side climbed up to fifth last week by defeating City 1-0 at Goodison, the eighth win in their last 12 league outings.

With Liverpool and Villa not meeting until Monday night and City entertaining West Ham later in the day, Everton can claim fourth spot on their own with a triumph at the JJB Stadium.

And with his players on such an impressive top-flight run, Moyes is convinced his team are ideally placed to replicate their achievement of 2005 when they finished ahead of Liverpool to qualify for the Champions League.

“I see Everton as having the biggest advantage of all the teams on 39 points,” said the Goodison manager. “I honestly believe we are in the best position to go on from here.

“Why? Because we are playing well, and we have been playing well consistently for months. Our form has been good over a long period, not just four or five matches, and we have shown the right sort of form for a long time now.

“It has given us momentum, and that could be crucial over the second half of the season. We are playing, and we have got good momentum because our form has given us the confidence to go out and win matches.

“I see us as having a great chance of finishing in fourth place, and hopefully we’ll be able to show why I say that by the end of the season.”

Only Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have won more Premier League games this season than Everton, who are the form team among the quartet chasing fourth place.

And Moyes said: “Our form is good, our confidence is good, we are in good shape, and I have real belief and trust in these players to go out and produce a performance against any side.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence because we’ve been playing well and when we’ve not been playing well, like the Manchester City game when we were missing a lot of players, we have ground out results which has kept things going.

“We have a stronger squad now than when we finished in fourth a few seasons ago. That was a great team with great character, and I hope we can match what they achieved. But we have more depth and more quality, and that excites me.”

Moyes added: “It excites me that we could be in a chase with Liverpool again for a Champions’ League place. Who wouldn’t be excited by that? Aston Villa, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Blackburn, they will all be excited too, and believe that they can crash the party.

“But at the same time, I think we are all aware of what an achievement it would be to finish in the top four, because of the quality of players Liverpool have got,

and the other three have got.

“If we can do it, then it would be a monumental achievement. It would be better than last time. It is getting harder and harder to break into that elite at the top of the table. We were the last to do it, and we want to be the next to do it.

“The aim is to break in there consistently, to establish ourselves in the European places. We know how hard it will be, but we have the squad at the moment to challenge for that.”

WALLY FIELDING, who was the oldest surviving former Everton player, has died at the age of 88.

Fielding, passed away peacefully in Cornwall.

Born on November 26 1919 in Edmonton, London, Fielding, who had previously been an amateur with Charlton Athletic, arrived at Goodison Park at the end of the Second World War having been spotted by manager Theo Kelly while playing in an Army team.

Known for his passing precision, reading of the game and his ability to beat defenders, Fielding earned a reputation as a stylish inside forward.

Playing 410 games for Everton and scoring 54 goals, his trademark move was to lay a perfectly weighted ball inside the full-back to flying winger Tommy Eglington.

Fielding was also a positive influence for the young players at Everton who would mimic his running style holding on to their rolled down sleeves as they ran.

After completing an illustrious playing career at Goodison in 1959, Fielding also turned out for Southport, making a further 20 appearances for the Sandgrounders.