Sigurdsson wants Chelsea scalp
– Everton can completely transform their season by getting positive results during a packed Christmas period, midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson has said.
The resurgent Merseyside club have climbed out of the bottom half of the Premier League and into ninth position with three wins and a draw in four games since Sam Allardyce’s appointment as manager earlier this month.
Everton will play four league games and an FA Cup fixture against Liverpool over the next two weeks and Iceland international Sigurdsson has backed the team to continue their revival during a tough period.
“It was a very tough and slow start to the season but things are looking a lot better. We still need to improve on a few things to keep the momentum going heading into this busy Christmas period,” Sigurdsson said.
“A few good results change everything in this league and now we’re looking forward to a lot of games over Christmas and we can turn this season completely around.”
Juergen Klopp has risked Arsene Wenger’s wrath ahead of Liverpool’s visit to the Emirates Stadium by claiming the Arsenal manager failed to get the best out of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Oxlade-Chamberlain joined Liverpool in August after Wenger decided to cash in before the midfielder’s contract expired.
The 24-year-old never quite lived up to his early promise at Arsenal after his switch from Southampton.
But, after a slow start at Liverpool following his £32 million move, Oxlade-Chamberlain has started to hit his stride in recent weeks – just in time for his first
Everton host Chelsea at Goodison Park tomorrowand Sigurdsson called for a competent all-round performance against the champions.
“Chelsea are a very good team and we’re going to have to perform really well and make sure we take our chances as defensively they are very good and not too bad going forward, either,” the 28-year-old added.
“It’s going to be a tough game but over the past few weeks we’ve been getting good results so we’d like to build on that.” – return to the Emirates tonight.
Reds boss Klopp has been impressed by Oxlade-Chamberlain’s development at Anfield, saying: “He had to adapt. I know how it is if you’re kind of a big signing.
“You have to perform immediately. But it’s difficult.
“I was happy from the first day about his involvement, about his attitude, and since then he became more and more a Liverpool player.”
But Klopp believes Oxlade-Chamberlain would already be an even more potent force if he had been instructed to add a goal threat to his game while he was with Arsenal.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has scored just twice in 20 appearances for Liverpool and managed 20 goals in 198 games for Arsenal.
Klopp believes that poor strike rate is down to Wenger prioritising the talents of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
“I think the biggest improvement, or the biggest potential he still has, is really being involved in goalscoring situations, because he has it in himself,” Klopp said.
“I see really a lot of space for improvement as well, and that’s good.”
As if that wasn’t enough to irk Wenger, Klopp also made a point of highlighting how the Frenchman, so renowned for his purist principles, has often used a far more rudimentary approach against Liverpool based around the aerial ability of Olivier Giroud.
“Against us most of the time Giroud played from the beginning, so that says a little bit about the style of Arsenal they have chosen against us very often,” Klopp said.
“They are a complete football team, able to do everything. They can switch and change styles.
“Against us it happened quite often that they played a lot of long balls, with Giroud. But he cannot play on Friday, which will change a few things maybe.” – AFP