Roberto Martinez confident struggling Everton will “improve”

The Toffees are in a sticky situation at the moment. Currently 14th in the Premier League, six points off the relegation zone, it is a stark contrast from this time last season when they were challenging for fourth.

Everton are 20/1 with Coral to be relegated, but are going strong in the Europa League. Wile the former seems unlikely, everyone said Roberto Martinez’s former club Wigan Athletic were too good to go down, though perhaps some of this was due to their FA Cup success. What is the common denominator?

A CV which includes relegation with two separate clubs, though major cup victory attached to each season would make interesting reading. Clearly knockout competitions are Martinez’s strength, having steered the Lactics to an unlikely Wembley triumph over Manchester City in 2013 and excelling in the Europa League this season, which the Toffees are 10/1 shots to win.

Responding to recent criticism about the club’s current plight, Martinez said: “Believe me, I have been in more difficult situations, I played in a game – Swansea City v Hull in 2003 – and if Swansea lost the club would have lost its professional status. It doesn’t get any worse than that because if you lose your status people lose their jobs around the club.

“We were 2-1 down after two mistakes and that is a pressure situation when you have 50 minutes on the pitch to get it right as a player. We won 4-2 and the football club never looked back. Ten years later they are in the Premier League, have won the League Cup, have a new stadium and are talking about a takeover worth £100m,” he continued.

“Maybe it doesn’t look that way to the outside but we had moments of huge pressure at Swansea and at Wigan. Those moments help me because I can see the seriousness of a situation and it is a serious position we are in, but I look at our squad and believe me it is a lot easier to win games with this squad. I am very confident we will improve.”