Now had we brought in Negredo, Fer, Butland in January then it would have been a possibility. Opportunity knocked and Bill bolted the door.

Better for us is that, if the hopes come back, we are closer to 4th than we have been for years at this stage.

Of course it can happen, of course it can happen with our first XI... and all we have hope for is to claw back 2 points on Arsenal and hope Chelsea continue to drop points under Rafa.

Still got my fingers crossed, but my eyes are more on finishing above the RS and their run in is annoyingly easy.

If the board sanctions deals for the likes of Fer/Negredo type players in the summer then maybe next year we will have a bit more depth but as someone has already said – the teams above us have 2 top quality players for each position (sometimes more) and we do not.

What is it Sir Whiskynose always says – 4 top strikers wins you cups.

We have arguably 1 top striker (when he's on form) and therein lies the problem. We do well at dominating teams with possession but don't have the necessary players to finish these teams off.

I am one of those who think we are a top 6-7 team and I even predicted 6th this season so I guess if we can get that and a cup I would be well made up.

If we had played all of these teams already, and be in the same position, I would be less confident, because we are inconsistent in playing the teams below us.

But we have a fantastic opportunity. To prove we are better than those teams, and to take points away from them, which in turn gets us 3 points closer.

Chelsea have a better squad of course, but they are hugely inconsistent, plus we have good results against them in recent years. Arsenal the same, except they're worse than Chelsea. Spurs are a one-man team, always likely Bale getting injured, or even losing Lennon would be a huge loss because they have no wingers, they would be screwed. Liverpool is actually the team playing the best football out of them at the moment, they worry me when we play them.

I'm not saying its likely, but it's still on, its still possible.

"Now the wins against Oldham and Reading have given us some much needed confidence"

A real top 4 team wouldn't gain confidence from beating those teams at home, it'd just be the norm.

Let's hope we do take it seriously on Saturday; I'm not convinced that Martinez will pick a 'weakened team' against us – although that has been widely reported. David Moyes must ensure he has his best available 11 on the pitch from the start and the fans will react accordingly.

We then need to win the FA Cup, just move over Man Utd/Chelsea or Man City... some hope.

Sorry to be down, but our ultra-thin squad has cost us Europe and I don't see us keeping our top players whilst we also try to bring in another 3-4 quality players. And someone please don't say Barkley, Duffy, Vellios ... Hitz etc will come good.

Well I'm 54.

One of my knees is goosed.

And Usain Bolt will be competing.

Still if I... BELIEVE!!!!

Re-read your post and concentrate especially on the sentance that goes..

'We still have to play Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool in our next 10 games....'

How many points do you realistically think we will get from the above (which make up 50% of our remaining games)? I predict 5-6 points at most. Now factor in that on top of this we also have to make up the 7 points that we're currently behind 4th by.........mathematically its still possible. Mathematically its also possible I'll win the lottery this weekend.

Ben, we'll be lucky to hang onto 6th, nevermind getting 4th!

You are having a Turkish surely, 7-8th is where we will finish.

Eugene, you cannot win the 100 mtrs cos I'm entering and I'm only 52 and me knees are still pukka. Got a dodgy right shoulder and me Gregory Peck is giving me Jip but I believe.

Usain who?

Look at my second post, I said it wasnt likely, but its still possible. Maybe I should have been in the actual post.

But in current form, why cant we beat Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea? Did you watch them in the weekend? Looked average to me.

I'm actually scared of Liverpool more than them 3.

We all know that a lot of us thought we could get 4th before christmas, that I am certain. Getting 4th would mean beating the teams around us. We have the opportunity to do that in the next 10 games, so why not??

Mathematically still possible yes!

though I would take 7th now (yes you read right), RS, Arse and Spurs will all finish ahead of us.

We may have trouble holding of Swansea those 5pts we have over them could prove critical, but when all is said and done 7th, 8th who cares?

It's not pessimism, I just think we're ripe for a good stuffing by the more decent teams and some dour draws from the not so good.

I admire your optimism and after all somebody has to keep the patient alive while it's being operated on by the big boys!

The Oldham win has given me new hope. I was once down and now I am up, buoyed by the certain knowledge that the gaffer will sit down with an ace starting XI and tell them to take the game to the aforementioned four teams and not sit back and hope to swipe something, and to leave a man up for corners.

I feel it... I believe! This post/thread has given me a fresh lease of life!

We could still finish 4th but we have to do what we haven't done much under Moyes in winning away at the big clubs.

Tough ask.

But I've got more chance of getting Santa belatedly delivering that train set than we have of getting 4th.

If we had a striker in form and had some of our rivals at home rather than all away it would help but it's so stacked against us I'm just hoping we finish ahead of Liverpool.

Heitinga and Distin at centre backs for our forthcoming 'big' games, and Jela not scoring will see us drop down the league in the next month. Sorry for the negativity but when we play the best teams (vs Aguero, Tevez, Bale, Defoe etc...), do you really think we will keep a clean sheet? The way I see it is that we will need to score at least 2 goals a game to get a draw!

Quite a strange opinion that Spurs are a one man team. I wouldn't mind having the likes of Lloris, Parker, Holtby, Lennon, Walker, Dembele I could go on. I would say Spurs are pretty close to a title challenge myself. We are absolutely nowhere near them in terms of quality.

Hello Norman,

We're all dreaming that one with you mate. But that dream is happening in the middle of a nightmare.

Last season we got 56 points. This season on a fixture v fixture basis we have got as high as 61 (after 2 games) and as low as 52. We have been +/- 5 points throughout the season. It is just that all the games we did well last year were stacked into the first 25 or so games of this season.

3rd and 4th are for Chelsea and Spurs (Arsenal have been dropping since end September). Chelsea have been on schedule for between 69 and 77 points from the start and Spurs 69 to 74.

So much as we enjoyed the experience, it was never going to happen at any stage since we lost at West Brom.

And the bad news is Real beating United, which means they want the double as compensation, otherwise I fancied us to sneak the cup this year.

Oh and to be completely miserable - current projections on results from last year on fixtures still to play - United, City, Chelsea/Spurs, Liverpool, Swansea, Arsenal and then Everton. Swansea do have a easyish run in.

(Were you being sarcastic?)

"XL" ? You have our squad as 40 players that are good enough. Well done, that is nice and positive. Then the whole load of negative buggers get on here and if they keep going we will find ourselves being relegated every season for the next several years.

Negative bunch, we can say good bye to 4th. Are you lot the same ones that call Moyes negative. Some real pots and kettles on here today!!!

4th is still possible, we just have to beat the also-rans of, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and Man City. On this season's form, not such a tall order. If we don't believe then just what will we ever achieve?

And really is strange about Spurs? Well Bale's goals has given them six extra points in the last few weeks. So without those points, they'd be fighting for 4th rather than going out in 3rd. You really think without Bale, they'd be title challengers? No way! Bale's been stifled enough in the past 2 seasons (funnily enough by Neville) so I cant see why we cant beat them.

I agree their squad has more quality than ours, but with luck, our first team is comparable with theirs. In terms of creativity, they do not have much other than Bale or Lennon. They replaced Modric with Dembele who is a completely different player.

We won't get 4th in a million years even if we had an easy run in. The club failed to show any ambition in January if we had bought Fer AND a striker then we had a chance.

We cannot compete with this crop of players there are too many weak links - Anichebe, Jelavic, Osman, Neville, Heitenga Naismith are just not Champions League standard.

We are 3 games away from our first trophy under Dour Dave what's the chances he will bottle one of them 3 games.

Of course, for the want of about £10mill in January, we might well have managed a couple of places higher. I mean, a miserly £10mill — just chicken feed — and a year from now we`d have had something to do with our Thursday nights!

How annoying is that?

Hello Richard,

Even if we did end up in the European places or by some miracle got 4th, that squad is far too weak to survive, as has been the case for all DM's exploits in Europe.

Unfortunately we're probably the 7th best squad in the Premier League with perhaps the 6th best starting 11. If the teams around you though are spending £350 million over the two windows and you're not spending anything then its no great mystery why we're not moving ahead of them, it's a miracle we're as close to them as we actually are.

Perhaps if we had bought fer and negredo then we might have been in the mix but we are at least 2 or 3 quality players away from being able to compete.

Well it could happen, but given that we blew our chances of finishing off the weaker teams and getting points, where's the evidence that we will beat the better teams?

Now if our main striker could discover the goal again ... Actually I'd like him to discover the box again first. He won't score many pacing up and down the wing.

Another opportunity missed for me.

The saddest part is bill and cronies will be delighted with 7/8th. They have no ambition to be higher. Look what happened when we exceeded expectations last time and finished 4th. Sweet fuck all. Phil Neville was brought it for our champions league challenge. Say no more.

http://www.football365.com/f365-features/8545909/Bloggers-Getting-SLAPPed-To-Save-Clubs

We started to turn things round against Reading, and if we turn up against Wigan, maybe we can go on a bit of a run, and get back to 4th. If we can do that I see no reason why we won't stuff things up in games we all expect them to win. This is Everton after all.

However, if I have learnt anything about football it is that anything is possible. The season we finished 4th and Liverpool won the CL the same season taught me that. Both should have been impossible but both happened in the same season. It can be done but I fear we just don’t have enough.

Compared to Spurs and Arsenal, we are not remotely up to their level of football in a season. They have better players, bigger squads, have in depth... something Dopey Davey forgot about. I only want quality – not quantity... right and we can afford quality then, can we, Mr Moyes? We can't even afford quantity right now.

We are not ready for Champions League football. Imagaine it, match after match embarrassed by Dopey Dave's dreadful tactics. This squad couldn't cope in the Europa League which many hate... we can't even get the squad to play the whole season according to Moyes.

I'd love for win the FA Cup and, under a new manager next season, see what we can do in the transfer window, and in the Europa League.

As for the OP, if you really believe we are better than the Arse and Spurs right now, you're deluded beyond help. :p

Rudderless and need better players, then we can perhaps talk about the reality of trying to qualify for the champs league...first we need to actually go a full season on full throttle...something we have never ever achieved under this manager. All we ever get is half season on full throttle...that is not acceptable if you want to qualify for the champions league...knowing our luck, we'd finish 4th and an english would win the champs league..and we'd be stuck in the tin pot league that's actually worthless in terms of cash..we'd need to finish 3rd..to do that requires a full season on full throttle as I said..we all know that...to do that, we need a new manager and new squad...there are plenty of free and cheap decent players in spain.

If we are lucky.

But look at the facts: they played Swansea a week before the final. Wigan a week before the quarter-final. And in the Zenit game they had no option but to go for it; they hadn't won in 5 before that. They're a two-man team, end of.

Having said that, we won't beat them there, because Moyes is shit-scared of them, so forget that and if by some miracle we beat Wigan and then get Millwall or Blackburn (some hope); the derby is a week before the final. So that'll be their cup final and they'll stuff us.

No, the reality is we're fighting for 5th with the shite and an inconsistent Arsenal side.

Well I agree but I can't see where Frida said "I don't want CL football"

To suggest this was said is radiculous.

“We are not ready for champions league football. Imagine it, match after match embarrassed by Dopey Dave's dreadful tactics. This squad couldn't cope in the Europa League which many hate... we can't even get the squad to play the whole season according to Moyes.”

To me, it’s a negative attitude that is suggesting we would be better off without CL football, but like I say I might has misinterpreted it, apologies if I have.

So I'm with you, Ian.

I don't like all this inferiority complex. Somehow on the back of some poor form people don't think we've earned our league position and thinking we'd be lame ducks in the CL is weak.

There were two very tough groups in this year's competition, the others we would have had a shout at qualifying from. Sure, experience in Europe is beneficial but willfully denying the hope for the opportunity to play in the elite competition is really baffling.

Hello Andy,

"No, the reality is we're fighting for 5th with the Shite and an inconsistent Arsenal side."

Those two side are about to kick on (no worries there), Arsenal will surge over the coming games and we'll have to wait and see if the RS can stay with them.

We'll just about hold onto 7th; the reality is we're looking over our shoulder at Swansea.

Based on past performances, we could turn Man City over at Everton but Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool away at best I see as draws. I also believe that, given where we are in spending power, there's nothing to be ashamed of for EFC to be in this position as long as we can play good football, give the top teams a good game, and have a decent cup run then for me it is irrational to expect significantly better.

I don't believe that we can win the FA cup as we will have to beat two top sides in consecutive games away from Goodison and I think the odds are massively against this. What if we were to be able to get into the CL? I think we would be out of our depth and an embarrassment.

Don't fancy us in a replay, TBH...