Roberto Martinez insists Everton are up to the challenge of a testing week that could prove pivotal to their outside hopes of overhauling Arsenal for the final Champions League place in the Premier League.
Victory over Swansea City saw the Goodison Park club close the gap to the fourth-place Gunners to eight points, with a game in hand.
Arsene Wenger’s team are still to visit the blue half of Merseyside before the end of the campaign, their deficiencies laid bare in the 6-0 humiliation they suffered in a London derby defeat at Chelsea.
With nine games remaining, Everton manager Martinez wisely refuses to add any extra pressure by talking-up the Toffees’ chances of an unlikely tilt at claiming fourth spot in May.
But the Spaniard is confident that in the wake of victory over the Swans, his squad can meet the physical challenge of three games in nine days, which sees them visit Newcastle United on Tuesday and Fulham on Sunday in a crucial run of fixtures.
Looking further ahead, Arsenal travel to Goodison Park on April 6, and Martinez said: “It’s really exciting. You want to play games and we have got a squad that is ready.
“I think the team is ready now to play games in a short space of time. Physically we have got good numbers and good options. There are plenty of leaders in that dressing room.
“We need to use them well but to be successful in this period is to take every day as it comes and every game on its merits.”
Newcastle, who were beaten 3-2 by Martinez’s side back in September, are on course to comfortably achieve their aim of a top half finish.
A late winner from Papiss Cisse against Crystal Palace at the weekend made it three victories from their last four games as they aim to end the season on a high. Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, who serves the last of a three-game stadium ban imposed for head-butting Hull City’s Republic of Ireland midfielder David Meyler earlier this month, will again be absent.
Newcastle are also without injured French duo Loic Remy, their 13-goal top scorer, and Mathieu Debuchy, the defender as they seek victory over Everton for the first time since the end of 2011.
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Remy’s compatriot, said: “First and foremost, we want to stay in the top 10 for the rest of the season, and we’ll do that by regularly picking up points.
“The last six weeks of the season are all about playing well, earning points and seeing where that takes us in the table.”
Pardew will be free to see his side in person once again when they travel to Southampton at the weekend.
Following Everton’s visit, the remaining four games of his punishment is a touchline ban. The repentant Newcastle manager said: “The sanction I’ve been given is tough, but it’s one that I’ve had to accept.”
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A foster couple or family must:
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- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
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Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
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More on animal trafficking
More on animal trafficking
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
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My Country: A Syrian Memoir
Kassem Eid, Bloomsbury
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
