Ronald Koeman says it is ‘crazy’ to consider Everton title contenders

Ronald Koeman has said it would be "crazy" to consider Everton contenders for the Premier League title despite their very impressive start to the season.

Everton, who are currently second in the table having taken 13 points from a possible 15, maintained their unbeaten run under the Dutch coach with Saturday’s 3-1 win against Middlesbrough.

Koeman, who will be without Romelu Lukaku for today's EFL Cup tie against Norwich City, has set European qualification as the target for his first season in charge at Goodison Park. He insists it is unrealistic to expect Everton to follow the example of Leicester City and deliver a surprising title challenge this term.

“I don’t think we can do a Leicester,” said Koeman. “Normally not, but you don’t know what is normal in life and normal in football. I am realistic.

“If I tell you we will fight for the title, I think most people will tell you that that man is crazy.

“Even when I mention that it sounds crazy. Why would we change our ambition and aspiration after 13 points from five games? The big teams have much more qualities and unless it is like it was last season, it will be impossible.”

Enner Valencia will start in place of Lukaku in the third-round tie at Goodison Park with the Belgium international given time to recover from a toe injury suffered on Saturday.

The striker is, however, expected to be fit for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Bournemouth, though midfielder Darron Gibson will be sidelined for a further three weeks after a groin operation.

Best players

Koeman said Everton were looking to extend Lukaku’s contract having held on to their leading forward this summer.

“The club is always trying to keep its best players,” said the manager. “It’s difficult but Everton is trying to keep him in the football club.”

Roberto Firmino has been declared fit for Liverpool's EFL Cup tie at Derby County, but there is still no place in Jurgen Klopp's plans for Mamadou Sakho.

The France defender has not featured for Liverpool this season due to an Achilles injury, though he returned to training a fortnight ago.

Defensive partnership

Klopp has settled on Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren as his central defensive partnership in recent matches and, despite preparing to make changes for the third-round tie at the iPro Stadium, the Liverpool manager will not consider Sakho.

“He is still working on his fitness,” said Klopp. “He is closer but there is a big difference between match fitness and everything else.

“It is not about how the player feels, it is about how close I feel he is. It is a long, long time since he played and all the other players have not had a long break, so it makes more sense if we use them.”

Firmino could feature against Nigel Pearson’s team having fully recovered from the groin problem that forced him to miss Friday’s victory at Chelsea.

“Roberto is in training. The medical department told me he could have played against Chelsea but I heard the word risk too often so I decided no,” Klopp said. “I was very happy that it worked out okay. They told me if I gave him three days he would be perfect so today is the fourth day.” Guardian service