Could Injuries Hamper Champions League Chase for Everton?

Although I've spent some time away from writing up my articles, I haven't taken my eyes off the blues. We are still on the up. However, this final run to the end of the season could be the toughest run of the season.

so, before we take a look at the current squad and our slight injury concerns just now, lets look briefly at how we have got ourselves into such a brilliant league position. The one word that I found myself using whilst watching Everton over the last few years under David Moyes was, inconsistent. Our results were inconsistent. We would worry, as fans, to go away from home to play a bottom 10 team in case we lost. In my opinion we can change that word to consistent, I no longer worry about traveling to a lower table club in fear of us getting turned over. Now I feel how I should about that type of game, that's confidence for you. Roberto has instilled that confidence in his team and just as importantly us the fans. We have put ourselves in strong position coming to the season climax, we deserve a good position.

Deserving something and getting it in the Premier League is often difficult. The difficulty of reaching top 4 may have just gone up a notch, as we hit an injury patch. The blues currently have 7 first team players sidelined, its not so much the numbers its more the names and potential of the players. With Club captain Phil Jagielka, Up and coming Left sided star Bryan Oviedo, Long term absentees in Gibson and Kone, its hard to believe we are were we are in the table. Now add the huge blow to one of the stand out players of the season in Kevin Mirallas and the brick wall that is Sylvain Distin, we must be fearful of our hard work crumbling.

I've always said Mirallas adds a lot more to our squad than people give him credit for. He was the first winger we had on a permanent deal, I might add, that has had pace. We have had Bilyaletdinov, who I'm still convinced was a center midfielder, we have and Pienaar who struggles with pace and is another on the injury list, and we have even played Leon Osman from the right, not to mention James McFadden. He gives us pace, skill, desire, quality, responsibility but the biggest thing he gives us is his ability to single handedly win us a game. Kevin will be our biggest loss to date.

I do think that Bobby has more about him, tactically, to allow injuries to effect our team. We have a priceless replacement for Mirallas in Gerard Deulofeo. We have a young lad in John Stones who has taken to center back as if he has played in the position for 20 years previous, not to mention Antolin Alcaraz who has yet to prove his overall ability. I'm confident if Roberto gets his tactics right as he so often does, we will get 4th.

If I was to find a small positive in each of our injuries, it would have to be the fact that the players replacing those injured all have a lot to prove, a first team place to gain. Keep the faith. Arsenal are a liability for a slip up, the race is far from over.