Everton’s powerhouse striker Romelu Lukaku feels that his side are genuine title contenders, and has stated that they can only get better, with the squad that they currently have at the moment.
Lukaku is on loan from Chelsea, and believes that there is little difference in quality seperating between his current side, and his parent club.
Everton head into 2014 in a strong Champions League place, and having only lost two games all season, the Belgian believes that his side are good enough to challenge for the Premier League title, after a superb start.
Lukaku says he knew after one training session at Everton he had joined a club capable of qualifying for Europe’s top tier competition, after opting to join Everton on loan, ahead of West Bromwich Albion at West Ham United.
Lukaku stated…..
“You can say we are outsiders for the title now. You don’t need to be shy about that,” said Lukaku. “You have got to when you look at our points. I knew from the first day that I arrived on the training ground and trained with the team. The quality is here.
“Chelsea was top but Everton is getting there. There is not a lot of difference and that is why I think I made a good choice.
In the new year we have to be consistent and work and work and change those draws into wins and then it will be fine. We are showing great consistency in our performances and mentally we are very strong. We are improving on the things that the team didn’t have last year so that is a good sign. If we are more ruthless we will end definitely in the top four.”
Lukaku has been in superb form of late having scored nine League goals this campaign, and he is looking to emulate his performances from last season, after an impressive campaign at West Bromwich Albion.
Lukaku admits he has found the challenge of playing every fixture gruelling. In previous years he was not given the same responsibility as at Goodison Park.
“I have found it hard at some points. After the United game I felt I wasn’t as sharp and as fresh as at the start when I had something like seven league goals in eight games,” he said.
“Since my time at Anderlecht, and I am talking three years ago, I haven’t played this amount of games. I knew that if I didn’t score I had to defend for the team or give an assist. I knew that I would score sooner rather than later because of the work I did.
“Sometimes because I am a threat when I am facing the goal, I have noticed that teams want to keep me with my back to the goal. It is a nice challenge for me to move much better and not stay in one position.”
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
