David Moyes: It's time for Yakubu to start scoring again

Apr 17 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

DAVID MOYES has urged Ayegbeni Yakubu to rediscover his goalscoring form this evening and help rekindle Everton’s hopes of Champions League qualification.

The Goodison outfit entertain Chelsea aiming to turn the pressure back on Liverpool by closing the gap on their fourth-placed neighbours to two points.

Having freely found the target earlier in the year, Everton have scored only six times in their last eight games with top scorer Yakubu contributing a solitary strike during that period.

The Nigerian, who had previously netted six in four games since his belated return from the African Cup of Nations, still needs one more goal to become the first Everton player to score 20 in a season since Peter Beardsley in 1992.

And Moyes admits Yakubu has needed reassuring following a spate of indifferent performances.

“Yak’s gone off the boil a little bit and we know that, but he has scored his goals and you sometimes have to be patient with goalscorers when they have periods when they don’t score,” said the Everton manager.

“Yak needs a bit of loving every now and then and a bit of attention, but he has scored a lot of goals for us.

“He is on 19 at the moment, so when he gets that 20th one, it might be much easier and it wouldn’t half be nice if he got it against Chelsea.”

Yakubu netted in the 2-1 Carling Cup semi-final first leg defeat at Stamford Bridge in January.

And a goal tonight could help end the slim title hopes of Chelsea manager Avram Grant, who was a major influence on Yakubu’s fledgling career when his coach at Israeli side Maccabi Haifa.

“He knows he just has to keep going and keep getting in there and get one going in off his backside,” added Moyes.

“We have relied on Yak as well, though. He has been a really good player for us, so we have been missing that a bit because we need him to be there with his form.

“We’ve struggled to score goals in recent games and for most of the season, that hasn’t been a concern because we’ve been able to take our goals. We’ve defended well and got our goals through the season.”

Yakubu could even come under pressure for a starting place as Moyes considers shaking up the team that drew 1-1 at Birmingham City last Saturday.

“We’ll look at it and we’ll see what we think, but his

last couple of games have seen a bit of a dip in form.”

However, Mikel Arteta (stomach) and Leon Osman (hip) are again likely to join Tim Cahill and James Vaughan on the sidelines, although Moyes has reported no further injury worries.

Everton will have to arrest a run of form that has seen them take just five points from their last five league games and come under renewed threat for the UEFA Cup berth.

“At the moment it will be very difficult to make fourth, so we have to make sure that we hold on to fifth,” added Moyes.

“Portsmouth and Aston Villa are very close, so it’s a big week. Those teams could get right on our shoulder if we don’t do things right and I’m very aware of that.

“We have three games out of four at home and hopefully we can take advantage of that.”

Monday’s draw with Wigan Athletic dealt a major blow to Chelsea’s title hopes, and Moyes believes the Londoners’ minds will now be focused on their forthcoming Champions League semi-final at Liverpool next Tuesday.

“I feel as though it’s Manchester United’s title to lose, but I don’t think that will make it any easier for us against Chelsea,” said Moyes. “They will go into every game to win.

“Possibly the players are psychologically going to be concentrating on the game on Tuesday. There’s no doubt that’s the competition that Chelsea have a better chance of winning.

“Their players will need to do well for themselves in this game, but next Tuesday will be at the back of their minds.”