Everton points truth emerges in Premier League relegation battle

Following last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Southampton and with Manchester City up next, Everton fans are understandably feeling apprehensive about the team’s prospects this season.

The Toffees head into this coming round of matches just four points clear of the relegation zone, but that’s a deficit that could well be cut to just one point should results go against them this weekend.

Furthermore, their points return of just 22 after 23 matches is the lowest they’ve accumulated at this stage of a season in 21st century.

While that’s of course a wretched return for a club the size of Everton, a more pressing concern is how such a points tally at this stage compares to the returns of recently relegated Premier League sides after the same number of matches.

Across the last three seasons, Everton fans can take some comfort in that eight of the nine sides who were relegated did have fewer points on the board than they do at this stage of the season.

The one exception to that was Watford in the 2019/20 season. Their tally of 23 points was a point more than what Everton currently have, although they went on to suffer ten defeats from their remaining 15 league games and eventually finished second from bottom.

Although recent history suggests Everton are in a better position than most of the teams that did eventually go on to drop out the division, the margins are tight, meaning that every point between now and the end of the season will be crucial.

And although Man City represent a daunting next opponent, Frank Lampard has called upon his side to embrace the challenge.

“I’ll do everything I can to get a reaction (from the defeat to Southampton)," said Lampard.

“The squad are a good bunch and they want to do the right things. We’ve