Benitez believes Everton can achieve top six finish – is he right?

Rafa Benitez believes that Everton can challenge for a top six place this season, despite the club’s disappointing start to the new campaign.

Everton were spoken about by many at the beginning of the season as legitimate top six challengers, with the amount of money they had spent in the transfer window pointed to as one key signal of the club’s intent to progress.

Despite looking defensively assured in the opening few Premier League games, Everton struggled to score consistently. Now currently, the club are able to find the net frequently enough, but their defensive qualities have waned.

Everton are currently 14th in the Premier League after six games, having played none of the top six and only one side who finished in the top half last season, Wolves, who ironically they’ve beaten.

However, in a Q&A with The Athletic, Benitez still threw their name in the mix as potential challengers, while he believes they won’t be the only team looking to challenge the traditional six elite.

When asked whether he thought Tottenham would finish in the top four, as reported by Inside Futbol, Benitez said:

I think so. It will maybe be more interesting this year, but still I can see that they have the potential to do well.

We talk about ‘six teams’, but for me Leicester, West Ham, Wolves and Everton can progress and challenge.

Is Benitez right to predict that Everton could be in the mix by the end of the year?

Read Everton Verdict

If I was going to put my money on the line, I wouldn’t like to bet on Benitez being right. Everton undoubtedly have talent in their squad, but there just isn’t enough of it, not least to compete with others around Everton like Leicester and Wolves.

Everton aren’t the seventh best team in the country, so I don’t know how anyone can expect the Toffees to make a charge for that sixth space, even if Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are at risk of slipping down.

For me, Everton need to focus on seventh. Get back to being the best of the rest, get back to consistently achieving European football, all the while moving onwards and upwards and eventually that breakthrough could come. 

I’d love it to happen this season, I’d be over the moon in fact, but I just can’t see it happening.