da apostebet：
da imperador bet： Everton’s Steven Pienaar is confident that the Toffees can break into the top four this season.
The Daily Mail has quoted Pienaar as stating
“We all know that if we have a fully fit squad we can compete for the Champions League this season. The players are up for the challenge.”
Confident sound-bites such as these are common before the start of the season, and Everton fans will be hoping that Steven Pienaar’s actions mirror his words. The South African midfielder only has one year remaining on his contract and has yet to have signed a new contract. Many would argue that if he is so confident in the club’s ability to challenge for the top four, then why has he not extended his contract? The fact is that it is getting harder and harder for clubs to break into the top four, with perhaps as many as eight teams having a chance of getting Champions League football. It may be that Pienaar is waiting to see how Everton perform before he commits himself, and if they don’t meet the ambition Pienaar has set for the club, he will be able to move to a new club at the end of the season. Everton then, will be hoping for a good start to the season in order to encourage Pienaar that Goodison Park is the right place for him to be.
If Everton are to mount a serious top four challenge, then the start of this season will have to be the polar opposite of how they performed at the start of last season. In the opening fixture of the 2009/10 season, Everton were hammered 1-6 at Goodison by Arsenal. It was a disastrous start to a season that early on looked to be completely unravelling, the Toffees endured terrible injury problems with key players missing large chunks of the season. When the players began to come back however, confidence grew and Everton showed in the second half of the season what they were really capable of and eventually finished in the very respectable position of eighth in the league. If Everton can avoid the injury problems they had last season, then the fans and Steven Pienaar will be confident of bettering that position this time around.
If Everton make a better start, avoid injuries and fulfil their potential there is a decent chance they could make the top four. One only has to look at the squad to see that there is a lot of quality in the side. Key players who suffered long term injuries last season such as Phil Jagielka, Marouane Fellaini, Mikel Arteta and Yakubu will all be stronger and be desperate to put in a good showing this season. New signing Jermaine Beckford is untested in the Premiership, but he may yet prove a shrewd dealing by David Moyes. Jack Rodwell showed his potential at the end of last season and will surely have a bigger role to play this time around. Another player who may impress this term could be Diniyar Bilyaletdinov; the Russian winger had a good first season in England and he could prove to be a top-class player in his second season at Everton. Although the Everton squad has not really been supplemented this transfer window, there is certainly no lack of quality in the side. If the club can make a good start to the season, then they will be fighting it out in the European positions. If that happens then Steven Pienaar may just sign that contract extension that is waiting for him.
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