Everton fans paint bleak picture in fight against relegation

Everton have 11 matches left to ensure that their 68-year existence in the top flight of English football is not brought to a sorry end.

The Blues currently lie 17th in the Premier League table, three points above Watford and crucially with two games in hand on two of the teams below them.

But those extra games will count for nothing if Frank Lampard cannot get his side to start picking up points on a more frequent basis - and Evertonians' hopes of moving away from the drop zone look bleak.

Despite the Blues giving themselves a lifeline with an injury-time winner against Newcastle United last week, a recent ECHO survey shows that when it comes to Everton surviving the drop, a whopping 71.8% simply don't think that they can get the job done.

Only 28.2% believe that the Toffees will show enough in the coming weeks to avoid their first relegation since 1951.

Everton's top-flight record is one to be proud of. They are one of only six clubs to have never been relegated from the Premier League alongside Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspurs, Chelsea and neighbours Liverpool. But only the Gunners have been in the English football's top division longer than the Blues. They were last relegated in 1913.

With only seven wins all season, the finger of blame has to be pointed somewhere. Or everywhere in this case.

Following the conclusion of our ECHO survey, which asked, 'who is to blame for Everton's poor season?', 15.5% said it was the fault of the club's owners and board. The players took the brunt of the blame from 21.3% of survey respondents and 2.7% blamed Everton's managers, including the doomed reign of Rafael Benitez.

But superseding the lot was over 60% of fans surveyed blaming all of the above - a clear vote of