Staying up no cause for celebration for Everton, says Tarkowski

LONDON: Everton defender James Tarkowski admits there were no celebrations after securing their top-flight status for a 71st successive season as they do not believe they should have been in a relegation fight.

A 1-0 victory over Brentford put the Toffees out of reach of 18th-placed Luton, who are 11 points behind with three games to go, but was greeted by muted scenes on the pitch.Without a combined eight-point deduction for breaching profitability and sustainability rules, Sean Dyche’s side would be level on points with Brighton in 12th.

But Tarkowski believes the strides which have been made in the last year, having only escaped the drop on the final day last season, show the club is heading in the right direction.“We’re not in a relegation battle if we don’t lose eight points, so we’re not here to

celebrate staying up,” he said.

“It’s not really ‘job done’ as such because we weren’t really considering that. We were only down there because of the deductions.“We can only do what we’ve done on the pitch – control the controllables. The way we’ve responded at times, like this week, has been unbelievable.”

An uninspiring game was settled by Idrissa Gueye’s fierce drive through a crowded penalty area on the hour – Everton’s only shot on target in 18 attempts.The Senegal midfielder would ordinarily have been the unlikely hero but, having scored just four times in 186 league appearances prior to last weekend, he now has two goals in three games after also scoring the crucial opener against Nottingham Forest.

Dwight McNeil and James Garner both hit the crossbar with shots from distance in the second half but, after Bees striker Ivan Toney was brilliantly denied by Jordan Pickford with the score still goalless, the hosts only needed the one goal to ensure their final season at Goodison Park will be in the top flight.A third successive home win in a week has transformed their season and came on the back of a 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea which prompted some frank exchanges within the squad.