Everton will be fine when the dust has settled on a Premier League season which has been another nightmare for the blue half of Merseyside.
But while they can scrape enough points from their remaining matches to survive the drop, the Toffees are unlikely to return home with anything from their trip to Stamford Bridge.
The deduction of eight points this season has given undoubtedly left Sean Dyche and his playing staff with a siege mentality but just one league win since the middle of December paints a truer picture of why they are only two points above the relegation zone.
Add the deductions to Everton’s tally and they would have 35 points which would put them in 14th place in the table and needing just a couple of draws from their remaining seven games for safety.
But that’s hardly a season for the ages and leaves them firmly entrenched among the also-rans in terms of relevance, let alone having any European ambitions.
They would still be in a worse position than chronic underachievers like – let’s think – ah, yes, Chelsea who they meet in a Monday Night Football showcase at Stamford Bridge.
Mauricio Pochettino’s team may be wildly inconsistent but at least they can pull the odd victory out of the wreckage of their season every now and then.
Everton’s controversial win at home to Burnley last weekend took their tally from the last 45 points on offer to nine but they have kept things reasonably tight at the back, with only Manchester City, Wolves and West Ham sticking more than two goals past them in that run.
It also must be noted they have played City twice since the turn of the year and the defending champions needed some late strikes to win 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in February.
The Toffees problem is that they have only scored more than a single goal just once in those 15 games and while Chelsea have conceded two or more in their last six outings, they have also scored at the double in every match in that span.
A 2-1 home win looks the way to go which is 15/2 with William Hill while a home win is 8/11 with Betway.
Cole Palmer has scored three of his seven goals in his last five appearances from the penalty spot and is the obvious choice to score at any time at 6/4 with Paddy Power and Betfair, but he has only opened the scoring once in that spell and Nicolas Jackson is slightly preferred to break the deadlock at 11/2 with Sky Bet.
• Rafael Nadal’s glorious career may be destined to end like that of his friend and rival Roger Federer with the tennis greats not going out in a blaze of glory but with something of a whimper after failing to recover from numerous injuries. Rafa has not played a competitive match since the Brisbane International at the turn of the year and is listed to face 21-year-old Italian Flavio Cobolli in the first round on the clay in Barcelona this week. Rafa’s serve is reportedly in a bit of a mess and if he actually plays he could easily fall to the world No.63, who is 13/5 to win with William Hill.
• After the thrills of Saturday’s Grand National, racing’s attention starts turning to the Flat season and Oisin Murphy is 7/2 with William Hill to finish the year as the champion jockey, with Tommie Jakes 5/2 with Sky Bet to be the leading apprentice.
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