EVERTON TRIGGER WARNING

GONNA BE GRIM, SO, SO, GRIM

I am sorry, but my knees are weak, arms are heavy… there’s vomit on this Adidas x PLACES+FACES sweater, David Moyes spaghetti.

This is your official trigger warning. Everton have had 11 days to plan the most diabolical afternoon of free-flowing man-to-man hell for a lovely away day from the home they are not quite clicking with right now.

There will be no sexy performance.

This game won’t be the moment the beautiful minds of pro punditry stop to applaud for its Matisse-like beauty.

We are about to witness a crime against Sport.

But… if we can squeak out any sort of 3-point-looking result, the spoils could be historic.

Football is a game of the mind, even when the mind is not on the pitch.

Man City were walloped by Real Madrid this week. They head to West Ham, in a beastly away game, against a team with a good manager, and a group of players fighting for their lives. If Arsenal put Everton to the sword, City will go into that game knowing they are 10 points behind and any slip means it’s game over.

Don’t think that’s relevant? Then I would ask you to remember how badly Arsenal played after Man City turned that 1-0 score around against Liverpool. I’m telling you, we played poorly against Brentford because our players were thinking about the inevitability of City.

Tables COULD be turned. City are not in great form. They are sputtering. Haaland isn’t working well with Semenyo… City’s best performance was a reserve team against Newcastle… Pep caught between a rock and a hard place.

This weekend could be a real tipping point… and if we beat Bournemouth in our return to Premier League action, that puts City on the backfoot again, this time, when they play Chelsea away from home. That will be a nightmare game. Don’t read too much into the PSG result, Chelsea did not deserve to lose like that. They will need to beat Pep G, and they have more than enough to ask serious questions of them.

So, in short… this weekend is one of the most important of the last 10 years.

Let’s see how it goes. Pray to all your gods. x

P.S. Sign up for a membership right now and get the Before The Whistle in your veins and be ready for the On The Whistle tomorrow! x