Premier League Weekly: Can Everton make a statement of intent against Liverpool, and will Spurs improve their away record?

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Everton's Ronald Koeman (Clive Rose & Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

THE final international break of the season is over and we can get back to serious business.

Seven weeks remain and the main issues of the campaign will be resolved in that time.

As the action resumes tomorrow, PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKLY looks at the Merseyside derby, Tottenham on the road and pays tribute to the oldest outfield player in the league.

Can Everton now make a statement of intent on the pitch?

THE international break proved to be a mixed blessing for Everton. The good news about the green light for their proposed new stadium at Bramley Moore dock was overshadowed by the horrific leg break suffered by Seamus Coleman while on duty for the Republic of Ireland. But while Ronald Koeman may be cursing his luck about losing his right-back for a lengthy recuperation, the manager must be enthused by the club’s long term plans.

Romelu Lukaku (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Goodison Park is a great atmospheric ground in the middle of terraced streets. The noise for a rip-roaring game can be deafening but the stadium is not fit for purpose in the modern age. The building of the new stand just across Stanley Park at Anfield has further left them behind and so a new ground is the right way forward.

Their Premier League form in 2017 is the envy of the rest as no club can better their tally of 23 points from ten games with just a single defeat. It has taken them from being very much the best of the rest to in the mix with the top six. But now comes the acid test – the Merseyside derby, against Liverpool at Anfield.

It is 18 years since they last won across the park. And they have not won any of the last 12 derbies. It all adds up to the feeling outside of Merseyside that Everton are very much in their neighbours’ shadows. But with Koeman at the helm – a European Cup and European Championship winner and gilded former player – there is no need for an inferiority complex.

But that feeling persisted in the first derby of the season as the Toffees tried to cling on for a 0-0 draw until Sadio Mane’s late winner. Everton are better than that, and they have better players than that. Romelu Lukaku is on course for the Premier League’s Golden Boot. Ross Barkley’s playmaking skills improve month-by-month and Morgan Schneiderlin has added real assurance alongside Idrissa Gueye in midfield.

Liverpool's Adam Lallana (Joe Giddens/PA Wire) — Liverpool’s Adam Lallana (Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

Tomorrow’s game is about so much more than three points, even if a win would narrow the gap between the two clubs to just three points. It’s about Everton making a statement of intent to the wider world. It’s a case of going toe-to-toe with one of the ‘big boys’ on their own patch and taking them down. As Chelsea and Manchester City have shown over the last 15 years, it’s not simply a question of talking a good game, but producing one.

Can Spurs ever be Champions if they can’t win away from White Hart Lane?

THERE is no doubt that Tottenham have made great strides in the last two seasons under Mauricio Pochettino. They have a fine side, full of exciting players like Harry Kane and Dele Alli, who are getting better all the time. Spurs currently lie in second place, albeit ten points behind leaders Chelsea, and not even the most ardent Spurs fan would fancy their chances of being Champions this year.

A quick look at the league table tells you everything you need to know about why they won’t be lifting the trophy in May. Chelsea have picked up 33 points on their travels compared to just 18 from Tottenham. So far, the men from North London have won just four out of 13. That is the same number of victories as West Ham and Crystal Palace.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino (John Walton/PA Wire)

The history books do not help much, either. In the Premier League era, Tottenham have won just five out of a combined 100 visits to Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. It’s almost ingrained in the club’s DNA that Spurs don’t win at these places and that is something which must be overcome. Again, this season against the bigger clubs, Spurs scraped one point from a draw at Arsenal and another at Manchester City, against whom they do not have a historical inferiority complex.

Tomorrow’s trip to Burnley is a good marker. This is the sort of match in which potential champions find a way to win against a side with a strong home record and an awkward style of play. Results have been squandered by Tottenham at places like Bournemouth and Sunderland that will have to be improved upon in future.

All this chat is relevant because in the not-too-distant future, whether that is next season or the year after, Tottenham will not play at White Hart Lane. While the ground is being redeveloped, they will set up a temporary base at Wembley and as they showed in the Champions League and Europa League, that was an uncomfortable fit. So if Spurs are going to take the biggest leap of all, from second to first, they need to cure any form of travel sickness.

Stat of the Day

10.52 – The average number of away victories by the Champions in a 20-team Premier League. Current leaders Chelsea already have ten this season.

Player of the Day: Gareth McAuley

IT feels like the right time to pay tribute to one of the Premier League’s unsung heroes. At 37, Gareth McAuley is the oldest outfield player in the league (and one of the few players actually older than this author!). But the West Brom defender has rightly been given a new one-year contract extension due to his consistent performances once again this season.

Age is certainly not slowing down this performer. If the Baggies maintain their current position of eighth, McAuley will have equalled his best ever season. He has also chipped in with six league goals proving how dangerous he is from set pieces. He lines up against Manchester United tomorrow, and with Zlatan Ibrahimovic still suspended, no one in that United side will have scored more league goals this season than the Northern Irishman.

Gareth McAuley (Ian Walton/Getty Images)

There are two other things for which McAuley must be admired. The centre-half did not kick a ball in the Premier League until he was 31 – an age when many judges are starting to wonder if a player should be put out to pasture. But he has kept himself very fit and is averaging over 30 games a season and he has been a regular for four out of the five managers at The Hawthorns in that time.

The other is that he has not said goodbye to international football in order to prolong his club career. That allowed McAuley to head to Euro 2016 where he scored a winning goal for his country as Northern Ireland reached the last-16. Even after that hurrah, he is still carrying on. Who knows, it might take him to the World Cup next summer, by which time he would be 38 – the Northern Irish Roger Milla perhaps?