‘Can’t write them off’: Two pundits explain why Everton can win the Premier League

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Jamie O’Hara and Ally McCoist believe Everton cannot be discounted as potential Premier League winners in this strangest of seasons, while speaking on talkSPORT (15 October, 9:45am),

If we are ever going to see another ‘Leicester City story’, albeit with a different protagonist acting as the David in a league full of Goliaths, then it is never going to take place in ordinary circumstances.

And it is fair to say the current circumstances are about as far from ordinary as you could possibly imagine.

With home advantage now pretty much non-existent, the Premier League is more unpredictable than ever before.

Manchester City and Manchester United are stuttering, Arsenal and Chelsea are not quite the finished article and Liverpool are still reeling from perhaps the most shocking result in the history of the competition at Villa Park.

Everton, meanwhile, have stormed into first place with a 100 per cent record across all competitions. Seven wins out of seven and 24 goals along the way make this their best start to a campaign since 1894.

A first victory over their Merseyside rivals in a decade on Saturday will leave Everton six points clear of the reigning champions already too. So, if the socially distanced celebrations are taking place on the blue half of Stanley Park this weekend, perhaps we will start taking the Toffees seriously.

“Winning the Premier League is a big, big ask. You can’t write them off! They’ve had a great start, its just whether they can keep that squad playing the way they are all the way through the season. Is it deep enough?” former Tottenham midfielder O’Hara suggested.

“The great thing is, Everton are not in Europe so they don’t have that to worry about. They can really, soley focus on the Premier League.

“The match against Liverpool is a massive, massive game. It will really show how good Everton are and how good they really could be. If they get a result against Liverpool, you can 100 per cent absolutely not write them off.”

Rangers legend McCoist, meanwhile, is reluctant to rain on the parade of a side who have been transformed by the arrivals of Allan, Abdoulaye Doucoure and James Rodriguez, not to mention Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s remarkable goal-scoring form.

“The reason why you can’t write them off is the start they’ve had and you only have to look back a few years to see the outrageous story that was Leicester winning it,” McCoist adds.

“So for those reasons, you cannot write them off. But they’re not favourites at this moment in time. We’ll know a lot more by the weekend.

“I’ve been so impressed with, clearly, Rodriguez, Doucoure, Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison.”