Walcott is out in the c-old
WITH one bookmaker quoting odds of 80-1 for a Cardiff win last night, their fate was sealed even before kick-off.
Manager Neil Warnock effectively agreed with the bookies, saying ahead of the game that his side had “Manchester City then six winnable games” in their battle to beat the drop. He was right.
This game was never going to determine whether the Bluebirds can make up a five-point deficit on the teams above them and somehow stage a miraculous escape.
Ahead of the game, Warnock threatened to play his Under-23s and keep his established players fresh for two seismic games coming up against Burnley and Brighton.
Those are must-win games if Cardiff are to get out of jail and preserve top-flight status against the odds, with time and games running out.
Last weekend’s drama – when refereeing injustices cost Cardiff victory in a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea – was a major blow to hopes of avoiding joining Fulham and Huddersfield in the Championship next season.
Warnock was rightly outraged at the poor decisions, that have left his side staring down the barrel of relegation in what has been a testing and emotional season, following the death of £15million signing Emiliano Sala in January.
If goalkeeper Neil Etheridge failed to cover himself in glory for City’s opener after six minutes, allowing Kevin De Bruyne to beat him at his near post, he atoned thereafter, saving well from Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte after the break.
But Cardiff, who took 74 minutes to muster a shot on target, were never going to get anything from this game, with the important tests for them ahead in the coming weeks. THEO WALCOTT could be a high-profile victim of a new Everton focus on youth in the transfer market.
The former Arsenal and England star is out of favour, with just 16 minutes of football from the bench since the Mersey derby on March 3.
He has scored once in the Premier League since August and the likes of Bernard, 26, and Ademola Lookman and Richarlison – both 21 – are now ahead of him the pecking order.
Perhaps even more worrying for Walcott, 30, is director of football Marcel Brands wants to continue a policy of recruiting players under 25 – and will have to sell to do it.
“We see if a player can fit the Everton environment, in the team we have, in our style and try to do that in a particular age,” he told a conference in London.
“The players brought in last year were all under 25 so we don’t want to invest big money in players who are older.
“Everton is a club that has to sell, so it’s necessary to get younger players to invest in.”
Walcott still has two years to run of a contract thought to be worth £100,000-plus a week.