Everton striker keen to lower expectations
Everton forward Kevin Mirallas has played down hopes of the club challenging for a Champions league place this season, claiming ‘there is still a long way to go’, reports Sky Sports.
David Moyes’ side continued their fantastic start to the season with a 3-1 victory over Southampton at Goodison Park, which saw them climb to second place in the Premier League table, just three points behind leaders Chelsea.
And summer signing Mirallas has started to make a significant impact on the team’s form, scoring his first goal for the club in the previous weeks 3-0 win at Swansea, before providing two assists against the Saints.
The Belgian international is loving life on Merseyside so far, but is keen to play down the expectation his new side could be in the same position come May.
“Before I signed, I was looking at the Europa League being a more realistic ambition,” he told the Liverpool Daily Post.
“But certainly now as the season has got underway, we have got a good crop of players here and are playing some really nice football.
“It’s fantastic that we are second and our ambition now has to be to stay up there and put pressure on those around us. It’s a long season though and there’s a long way to go, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
Mirallas has also admitted to being surprised at how quickly he has settled at Goodison Park.
“It’s going a lot better than I could have hoped for. The settling in period has been a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be.
“That’s because of various reasons. My team-mates are really cool with me, they have been great with me. They talk to me a lot and support me a lot. The other big factor is that I’ve spent a lot more time on the field and played in more games than I thought I might have done at first.
“I’m still not quite there physically. I still need a good run of games to be 100 per cent fit. I had a chat with the manager when I first came here and he was fully aware that I hadn’t a full pre-season because I’d had a problem with my knee. I’m trying to catch up on that by playing games,” he added.