Rafa Benitez has ‘100% belief’ his faltering Everton side can halt three-game losing streak and go on to have a strong season despite daunting visit from Tottenham for Antonio Conte’s first league game in charge up next
- Everton have fallen into a slump after losing their last three league matches
- Rafael Benitez remains convinced Everton will go on to enjoy a strong season
- Injuries have hurt the Toffees and Benitez wants his players to focus on positives
Everton manager Rafael Benitez has ‘100 per cent belief’ that his side will have a successful season as they bid to avoid a fourth successive defeat against Tottenham.
Benitez’s tenure at Goodison Park got off to an encouraging start as the Toffees took 14 points from their first seven Premier League games, but a draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford has been followed by defeats to West Ham, Watford and Wolves.
A difficult run of fixtures either side of the international break – with matches against Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea scheduled before mid-December – could make matters even worse, but Benitez remains confident.
Everton have fallen to three straight league defeats but boss Rafael Benitez is not panicking
Everton started the season strongly and Benitez is convinced his side will have a strong season
‘Nobody wants to lose any game, but especially if you have lost three in a row,’ the 61-year-old Spaniard said.
‘I think the fans understand the context so it’s something that we need to analyse carefully; the context of where we were, where we are, what happened during the summer, players that used to be injured and we need to bring some of them back.
‘You put everything together and you have great performances of the team at the beginning of the season.
‘I remember when everyone was talking about the best football that they had seen for a while and now we have this issue with the last three games but I have the belief, 100 per cent, that we will do well during the season.
Wolves produced a 2-1 at Molineux last time out to condemn Everton to a third straight loss
‘I am 100 per cent convinced not because I have to say that in an interview, it’s because I can see the commitment of the players, I can see the things we are trying to change little by little and I’m sure we will do it well.’
Benitez has told his players to remember their successful start to the campaign, which has been derailed by significant injuries to the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Abdoulaye Doucoure.
‘Sometimes when you are doing well it’s easier for the manager,’ Benitez added.
‘When you are not doing so well you have to think about how to improve things and especially the confidence and the mentality.
‘Normally I go to the good things that we did. We started really well this season, the players showed the commitment and the intensity and everything that the fans were expecting.
Toffees and England striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin remains sidelined following a thigh injury
Calvert-Lewin is joined on the sidelines by influential midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure (right)
‘We have to remember that and we have to go back to these first games when we were doing quite well.
‘I said so many times at the beginning that we were doing so well that it was difficult to keep this momentum.
‘We had some injuries, some issues with players and the Premier League is quite complicated – you make one mistake against a team and the next game you lose a bit of confidence and then the next game seems more difficult.
‘You have to remember what you did well and try to stick with these ideas.’
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