EVERTON cult hero Andy Gray has joined David Moyes and Tim Cahill in championing James Beattie's cause for the World Cup finals - claiming the Goodison striker is better than his Anfield counterpart Peter Crouch.

Both players left Southampton for Merseyside in 2005 - Beattie for £6m and Crouch for £7m - but while Beattie has bagged 11 goals this season for his club opposed to Crouch's seven, it is the latter who seems far more likely to be included in Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad this summer.

Gray, who is now a pundit on Sky Television, played for Everton between 1983-85, helping them to win the League Championship as well as scoring in FA Cup and European Cup-Winners' Cup final successes and reckons the Swede should reconsider his options and plump for the goalscoring favourite at his former club.

He said: "James has probably left it a bit late as far as the World Cup goes but in my opinion, he's a much better option than Peter Crouch, at his best.

"He offers more goals and more ability. The only thing he doesn't offer more of is inches, and even though he's not 6ft 7in, he's probably a more powerful header of the ball.

"He's looking like the Beattie of old that made him such a hot property at Southampton.

"There's still a long way to go before he repays that transfer fee, but he certainly looks fitter and sharper than the Beattie of a year ago."

Gray also believes that while Everton's awful start to the season means that they'll finish in a lower league position than last season, the overall direction of the club is positive.

He said: "Everton will undoubtedly finish lower in the Premiership this season than last, but fans should be happier this May than last May because for the first time in 15 years they could have managed two consecutive top-10 finishes.

"The bane of every Evertonian's life recently has been that every great season has been followed by a relegation fight. That's been the pattern and it's been a frustrating one.