James Tarkowski has no regrets over his decision to join Everton last summer despite the threat of suffering a second successive relegation.
Tarkowski was Frank Lampard’s first summer signing last June, joining on a free transfer from Burnley where his final campaign ended with the Clarets dropping into the Championship.
Things have not gone to plan at Goodison Park – Lampard was sacked in January and Everton remain in deep trouble going into Monday’s trip to high-flying Brighton – while Burnley have bounced straight back to the Premier League, but Tarkowski insisted he would not change his decision.
“My focus is completely on Everton and I don’t regret joining this club, for sure,” he said in the Liverpool Echo.
Asked what lessons he could bring from his time battling the drop with Burnley, he added: “Not panicking too much and becoming too obsessed with other teams and what their results are and just trying to focus on us.
“I have said it for the last few weeks really – if we do our job, we haven’t got to concern ourselves with what other teams are doing. I don’t think we should be looking at other teams hoping they will do us a favour, if it happens that way, fair enough. But we have to focus on ourselves more than anything.”
After Lampard’s exit, Tarkowski found himself reunited with former Burnley boss Sean Dyche, sacked by the Clarets last April but brought in as Lampard’s replacement in January.
The centre-back said: “At Burnley… he had a team with quite a small budget and were expected to go down at the start of every season. He kept them in the league and he has a history of doing that.”
Everton will go into their final four fixtures without captain Seamus Coleman, who was injured in last Monday’s 2-2 draw at Leicester.
The 34-year-old’s injury is not as bad as first feared but is likely to have ended his campaign prematurely, a major blow to the club at a difficult time.
Even as Coleman was being carried off the pitch at the King Power, the full-back was trying to rally his team-mates.
“That tells you everything about Seamus,” Tarkowski said. “When I first turned to see it I thought he was shouting at the lad who tackled him, it was only when I heard our fans start to cheer that I realised what he was actually doing.
“I haven’t seen that before but it just epitomises what Seamus is like and his love for this club.
“Seamus is such a good leader and a good captain, he is a great talker in the dressing room, so he will be a big miss in that aspect. That puts a bit more demand on the other lads to start talking and taking that ownership.”
'Just work hard mate' – Postecoglou's simple answer to Tottenham's tricky question
Tottenham simply have to put in the hard graft as they look to salvage something from what is turning out to be a disappointing end to the campaign.
Spurs' Champions League hopes appear to be fading fast after they lost for a third straight game in the Premier League, going down 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.
Tottenham have four games remaining, albeit that includes meetings with Liverpool and Manchester City, and they are seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa.
They were particularly vulnerable from set-pieces once again, with both of Chelsea's goals coming from such scenarios.
Asked how Spurs can turn it around, Postecoglou said told BBC Sport: "Just hard work mate, there's no major formula. We will work hard and make sure we get it right."
He added: "It wasn't a great night for us. We didn't play at the levels we needed to and didn't deserve something from it.
"We lacked belief and conviction in our game. I don't know if it is low confidence but we are not playing with the mindset we need to play the football we want to and that is something I have to look at.
"It is on me to fix it. That is what we will be doing. We had bigger issues tonight than set pieces."
Speaking to Sky Sports, the Tottenham boss said: "I feel like we've lost a bit of belief and conviction in our football and that is on me to change that.
"It wasn't about conceding the [first] goal, it was our approach to playing football and we were nowhere near good enough. That is on me.
"We've been in a bit of a grind for a while now, that is part of our challenge and part of our growth. We have to go out there and perform and sometimes you have to grind out. We were poor today."
Spurs defender Micky van de Ven, meanwhile, conceded Champions League qualification looks out of sight.
"It will be difficult. I don't want to look up to the Champions League after this game, it was not a good performance from us and it is important we play a good game on Sunday," he said.
Mauricio Pochettino, meanwhile, became the first manager to complete a Premier League double over Tottenham having previously managed them in the competition.
Chelsea are up to eighth, just three points behind sixth-placed Manchester United.
"So happy and so pleased. So happy for our players," Pochettino said.
"The first half was fantastic. Then you have to contain and suffer. Tottenham have quality players. Not too much to say, all credit to the players."
Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham: Chalobah and Jackson goals dent Spurs' top-four hopes
Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson scored as Chelsea dealt a huge blow to Tottenham's Champions League hopes, recording a 2-0 derby win over Mauricio Pochettino's old club at Stamford Bridge.
Exactly eight years on from the memorable "Battle of the Bridge" between the teams, which saw nine Spurs players booked in a fiery 2-2 draw that confirmed Leicester City as champions, Chelsea inflicted more woe upon their rivals.
Spurs paid for lacklustre set-piece defending midway through the first half as Chalobah headed Conor Gallagher's free-kick home, then Jackson pounced when Cole Palmer rattled the crossbar from another dead ball 72 minutes in.
Ange Postecoglou's side were far from their free-flowing best and have now lost three straight Premier League games. They stay fifth, seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with just one game in hand.
Chelsea, meanwhile, climb above West Ham into eighth, just three points adrift of Manchester United in sixth.
The Blues went agonisingly close to a fifth-minute lead as Jackson raced through on goal to slot his effort under Guglielmo Vicario, but Micky van de Ven raced back to hook it off the line and Palmer could not sort his feet out on the rebound.
Chelsea were ahead after 24 minutes, though, as Chalobah met Gallagher's deep free-kick with a looping header into the top-right corner, the goal being confirmed by VAR following a check for a possible foul by Marc Cucurella.
Mykhailo Mudryk went close with a curling effort as Tottenham continued to toil, the visitors' best chance of the first half coming when Cristian Romero headed Pedro Porro's free-kick wide.
Ange Postecoglou cut an animated figure before half-time, and his side improved after the restart, but Chelsea could have had a second when Palmer shot over at the end of a promising break.
Chelsea did double their advantage with 18 minutes to play, the opportunistic Jackson heading into an unguarded net after Palmer's free-kick clattered off the woodwork with Vicario at full stretch.
Tottenham never looked like responding from there, and they now need a minor miracle to secure a top-four finish.
Pochettino haunts former employers
Having also overseen Chelsea's memorable 4-1 win in November's return fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Pochettino completed a league double over his former employers.
He is the first coach to ever beat Spurs home and away in a single Premier League campaign having previously managed them in the competition.
The Argentine's first season at Stamford Bridge may not have gone entirely to plan, but there may just be green shoots of recovery emerging in the closing weeks of the campaign.
Having endured a run of one win in 14 home Premier League games between March and November last year (seven draws, six losses), Chelsea – who face West Ham next – have now won eight of their last 10 on their own turf (one draw, one defeat).
Set-pieces costing Spurs
Tottenham have a set-piece problem. Arsenal ruthlessly exploited some slack marking from their neighbours to score two goals from corners in Sunday's north London derby, and on Thursday, it was two free-kicks that undid Postecoglou's men.
Prior to this game, Spurs had conceded 12 goals from set-pieces, excluding penalties, in the Premier League this season. Only Manchester United (15.3) and Burnley (14.9) had allowed opponents a higher cumulative expected goals (xG) figure from such situations than their 14.3.
They did not learn their lesson, Emerson Royal and Brennan Johnson getting nowhere near Chalobah as he headed home from a routine delivery to the back post for the opener.
Those fine margins could prove incredibly costly, with Tottenham now a long way adrift of top-four rivals Aston Villa with daunting fixtures against Liverpool and Manchester City still to come.
Nuno demands Premier League resolves PSR 'mess' as Forest await appeal verdict
Nuno Espirito Santo has called for the Premier League to provide clarity as Nottingham Forest wait on their appeal against a four-point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules, describing the situation as a "mess".
Forest were deducted four points in March after being found to have breached the competition's financial rules in the assessment period culminating in the end of the 2022-23 season.
Everton have also had a total of eight points deducted for two separate breaches, but with the Toffees pulling clear of the relegation zone, it is Forest who are looking over their shoulders.
Nuno's team sit just one point clear of 18th-placed Luton Town as they await the outcome of an appeal against their penalty, and he says the lack of clarity is affecting several clubs.
Asked whether he had received an update on Forest's appeal on Thursday, Nuno said: "Unfortunately we haven't heard yet.
"We are expecting to, but not yet. It is very difficult. We have been dealing with this situation for a while.
"We all expected the decision to come sooner, so we would know exactly how many points we have. Do we have 30, 29, 28, 27? We need it as fast as possible.
"To have 30 points would be fantastic, because this is the number of points that the boys achieved on the pitch.
"It is a mess. It should have been decided before. They have had enough time. It is very difficult for us but also for the rest of the league. It is very hard to be in this situation."
Forest visit already-relegated Sheffield United on Saturday, having taken just one point from four Premier League games since beating Fulham 3-1 in early April.
They could be in the relegation zone by the time that match kicks off, with Luton hosting Everton in a huge clash at Kenilworth Road on Friday.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
