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With the distraction of the Capital One Cup out of the way and the FA Cup not starting until January, Everton can focus on the Premier League this month. September did not start off in the best manner with the loss at West Bromwich Albion followed by the draw against Newcastle United. However David Moyes was able to right the ship with a commanding win at Swansea City and coming from behind to beat Southampton last weekend. The loss at Leeds United aside, Everton have been playing some very strong attacking football lately.
Starting with the game against Southampton, Everton play four straight Premier League opponents who are all nestled in the bottom five of the league. While it's easy to get carried away by the lowly standings and get complacent, this next month poses a very real chance for the Blues to get some separation from the rest of the pack and actually prove their credentials that they belong at the top of the table.
On October 6th Everton travel to the DW Stadium to take on Wigan Athletic who are in 16th place. Roberto Martinez's side has struggled in the Premiership but have really turned it on in the League Cup, with consecutive 4-1 wins.
After another week away for the World Cup qualifiers during the weekend of October 13-14th, Everton are back in action in a Sunday game in the capital, taking on Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. Mark Hughes has been handed a couple of blank cheque books there but hasn't been able to show the returns on the points table as yet as his side are languishing in last position.
They close out the month with the first derby fixture of the year, another Sunday game on the 28th of October at Goodison Park against Liverpool. This is the first time that Brendan Rodgers has been part of this fixture, and it will be interesting to see how he approaches this. Moyes comprehensively beat his Swansea side twice last year, and Everton fans will watch with bated breath if Moyes will once again go into his mental lockdown mode that he does against the Reds every year.