Everton confident their lousy start is now behind them
Published:Phil Neville believes shame and embarrassment spurred Everton to their first victory of the Premier League season and the club can now begin to take steps up the standings.
Everton have been disappointed starters in the past two Premier League campaigns and have been slightly worse during the current season with three points from their opening six games.
This left them bottom of the standings, but they showed some fiery determination to defeat Birmingham, which has been one of the most difficult places to secure a victory in the past year.
Neville said: “We were bottom of the league and it was the kick up the backside we needed. It’s been talked about almost every minute of every day.
“We hit rock bottom and to be bottom of the league for a club like Everton and for some of the players in that dressing room was embarrassing and shameful.”
Everton fans should not be too despondent by the start as they have taken a while to get going in the past two seasons and still gone on to finish on the fringes of the Champions League picture.
Last season Everton only managed nine points from as many games, while the campaign before they had accrued just 17 points from their opening 15 fixtures.
Everton are not widely expected to be playing Championship football next season as they are 33/1 to be relegated in the Premier League betting odds, which is the same price as Aston Villa and a bigger price than Merseyside rivals Liverpool.
A lack of goals from their strikers has been one of Everton’s chief problems and manager David Moyes is weighing up whether to make a loan move for young Manchester United frontman Federico Macheda in January.
Jermaine Beckford and Yakubu are still waiting for their first Premier League goals of the season, while Louis Saha is out injured.
Liverpool are 14/1 to be relegated this season as they currently sit in the bottom three after seven games. See the complete Premier League relegation betting odds market.
