By Chris Kirwan
March 8 2003

In the classic daytime TV quiz show ‘Going for Gold’ Europe’s elite battled it out under the watchful eye of Henry Kelly. Now the Blues are aiming to pit their in the football equivalent, where the Scandinavians don’t quite have the same stranglehold.

Arsenal, Man Utd and Newcastle seem destined to occupy the top three places in the Premiership, which leaves Everton, Chelsea, Liverpool and Charlton battling for fourth spot. To carry on the quiz show analogy the others are playing “catch-up”, but with a tight skirmish in prospect Moyes will be hoping these several key factors go the way of the Blues and lead us to Champions League football.

Keep winning at Goodison. So far this term Chelsea have been the only side to leave Goodison with 3 points, and their victory was more than a bit fortunate. But with several top teams, and Liverpool, set to visit the Blues Moyes will be hard pressed to keep up the good form. Newcastle, Liverpool, and Man Utd all face the trip to L4 4EL, but it shows how far the Blues have come when they will be apprehensive of Everton, while Moyes and his team will relish the challenge. If the Blues can pick up at least 5 points from those games then we’ll be in with a shout of 4th spot.

Be ruthless. With a tough run-in Everton have to beat the likes of West Ham, West Brom, Villa, and Fulham. While West Brom and Fulham will be tough to beat away from home the Blues must win if they are to harbour genuine Champions League hopes. Similarly we cannot afford any more Bolton/ManCity/Birmingham slip-ups at Goodison, and the best way to start is with a comprehensive win against the Hammers.

Competition for places. The backbone of Everton’s campaign has been that should an injury occur there are plenty of willing replacements ready to step in and keep the jersey. Moyes’ policy of ‘if you play well you keep the shirt’ breeds confidence, and carries fear of underperforming. It has also led to an impressive bench; Gordon Strachan highlighted the importance of the Everton substitutes after the game at Goodison, and this is partly due to ‘lesser’ players keeping out the likes of Campbell, Rooney, and Yobo. Moyes has had a much stronger squad to work with than his predecessor, though this can probably be attributed to a better training regime, and the exile of Bonecrusher Knox.

Big Dunc. I know he has done very little since resigning for the club, but you only have to look at the start of Moyes’ regime to see what he still has to offer. He made the transition to Moyes a lot smoother with several awesome performances. While he should quite rightly have to wait for his turn behind Radzinski, Campbell, Rooney, and McBride I believe that he would be superb as an impact player. The traditional ‘big man’ role seems to be dying out in English football, with only Dion Dublin remaining. While the likes of Beattie may be quite handy in the air rarely does a forward have heading as their main asset, which would make it all the more difficult for defenders to face Ferguson. Quite simply they won’t face many like him, and the prospect of his aerial prowess and Radzinski/Rooney’s pace is an exciting one. And finally:

Luck. I know that it’s a cliché, but the Blues will need the rub of the green. Come the end of the Man Utd game, I guarantee we will be left reflecting on either squeezing into fourth or being nudged out courtesy of a fortunate moment. Let’s hope we can celebrate a Gary Neville own goal losing them the title and putting us into the Champions League.