Martinez desires Everton European exploits despite domestic hurdle

Premier League sides have continued to disregard the Europa League during the season, prioritising their domestic challenges instead, despite the huge rewards on offer for winning Europe’s second string competition.

The Europa League is evidently targeted more thoroughly by sides outside of England, with Spanish league outfit Sevilla truly reaping the benefits of their recent historical back-to-back triumphs in the competition.

However, it’s clear that a successful run in the Europe’s secondary club competition can have a negative effect on a team’s domestic form, something Everton learnt the hard way during last campaign (11/4 with Coral to finish top six).

Toffees boss Roberto Martinez impressively guided his side to an emphatic fifth-place finish in his debut season in charge, but much of the 2014/15 term was haplessly spent in the depths of the table’s bottom half.

Throughout that domestic decline, the Merseysiders were involved in a Europa League run, a burden which saw them win only two out of 16 league clashes between November 30th and March 4th.

Although, upon crashing out of the competition in the last-16 stage at the hands of Dynamo Kiev, Martinez’s men mounted a Premier League resurgence and managed to finish 11th, winning five of their last nine games.

Despite the Europa League causing such a daunting domestic decline, Martinez is keen for his Everton side to reclaim a European position this season.

“Does playing in the Europa League have an impact on the league? The answer is clearly yes,” stated the Spaniard. “But it is still our aim and one of our targets.”