Frustrated Everton star Jake O’Brien insists Toffees are too good to go down

Everton are in deep trouble and they have won just one of their last 12 Premier League games, scoring just twice in that time, with David Moyes now replacing Sean Dyche

Everton are too good to go down as they fight for their Premier League lives, claims defender Jake O’Brien.

Everton are desperate to go to their new Bramley Moore Dock home as a top-flight club and they are battling to avoid their first relegation since 1954. They face Tottenham at Goodison Park on Sunday on the back of a run of just one win in their last 12 Premier League games and they have failed to score in nine of them.

But O’Brien insists he sees enough quality every day in training to be sure they will survive. “I just can’t see us going down,” said the Republic of Ireland centre-half.

“Last season we were in this kind of situation, but I think it’s more about us looking up the table and knowing we have the squad to get points. I think we’re better than a lot of teams around us, so I think it’s just about getting a few points on the board and pushing up.

“I think we’re too good to go down. You can see it in training. In games, it’s just fine margins, taking your chances and not conceding goals.

“I think we have it in the squad to score goals and obviously it would be a great help to have other people in as well. Once that clicks for us and we start getting a good run of games, people will stop doubting us.”

O’Brien, 23, came on in David Moyes’ first game back against Aston Villa in midweek and he is frustrated to make just five appearances under Sean Dyche following his £16.4million summer switch from Lyon. O’Brien played regularly for Lyon, alongside Alexandre Lacazette, helping them to sixth in Ligue 1 and scored in their Coupe de France Final defeat to Paris St Germain in May.

Although standing a towering 6ft 6ins, the goalscoring centre-half insists he is comfortable on the ground and hopes for more opportunities under Moyes. O’Brien, who was just 10 months old when Moyes began his first spell at Everton in March 2022, said: “Yeah, I think I need to start playing more.

“It’s been a frustrating six months, but I think the next half of the season is important for me to start getting games. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy to play games, but I thought I would have played a lot more than I did.

“Obviously, in Lyon it was a very good team, a strong team, and I was suppose it was frustrating to go from playing a full season to sitting here, watching. Things change fast in football and hopefully I’ll be in the team soon.”

O’Brien had been at Crystal Palace when he took the bold move in 2023 to join Lyon, where he was team-mates with Orel Mangala, and insists he does not regret coming to Everton. He aims to impress Moyes and backs himself to become a regular for the Blues.

“I know there’s a lack of game time, but I don’t regret coming here,” he said. “It was frustrating to not play and I think that’s been like any club I’ve been at. I’ve not been in the team at the start, but I then worked my way into it and stayed in. I think once I get a proper chance here, I’ll grab it.”

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