Soccer English FA Premiership/Everton 0 Charlton 1: If fourth is the new first then Everton will feel their advantage has been eroded. A chance to move 10 points clear of fifth evaporated on Saturday, but it was the manner of this defeat that will have disturbed them.
The Londoners, emerging from midtable, have joined the clutch of teams at Everton's back, hovering with menace seven points adrift with their second victory over the Merseysiders in a month.
"When you play a certain way, like Everton do, sides learn how to combat it over the course of a season," said Danny Murphy. "Maybe teams are getting wise to the way they play now."
That will send shivers down Evertonian spines. The visitors stifled to good effect here - "We did the crappy bits well," added Murphy - with their five-man midfield suffocating the locals for all that James Beattie struck a post and Murphy cleared David Weir's header off the goal-line.
Amid the huff and puff, the hosts lacked imagination with Charlton's display strangely reminiscent of Everton at their resilient best. Matt Holland's stunning volley deep into first-half stoppage time duly inflicting a first home defeat since October.
How Everton react to this set-back, their third loss in five Premiership games, will be decisive. "I know I'll be accused of bias but I can still see Liverpool sneaking fourth place," said Murphy. "They have signed (Fernando) Morientes and, when he has settled in a bit more, he will score goals. That will be vital.
"I'm not taking anything away from Everton but it will be difficult for them to maintain the level they have had in the first half of the season because they just haven't got the players. They cannot rotate and rest players and, no matter how well you are doing, players do get tired over a long season.
"To see them up there is healthy for the Premiership - they are a big club with great fans and if they stayed in the top four it would be good for the league. But they need a few more players. You need a strong squad to perform consistently at that level."
The problem is David Moyes does not envisage making any more signings before the window slams shut at the end of the month, his prospects of reinforcing the squad reliant upon other clubs signing players and freeing up potential targets such as Tottenham's Simon Davies. That may mean the departed Thomas Gravesen will not be replaced, with Everton's momentum potentially checked.
The visiting manager Alan Curbishley will empathise with Moyes's concerns. A year ago Charlton left Goodison Park buoyed by a similar 1-0 success and resplendent in the fourth Champions League place. Yet Scott Parker's grumbling departure to Chelsea before the transfer window shut undermined their confidence, a subsequent slump anchoring them to a seventh-place finish.
"The whole Parker thing rocked us," said Curbishley. "He was the player who set us all off and we picked up a point a game after that, which wasn't good enough.
"It was a bit tighter than it is now. Everton are still in pole position and, while losing Gravesen may affect them, they are more of a rounded squad. David Moyes is the only manager who has achieved anything so far because they were safe by Christmas and that was their first aim. But he was really disappointed when they didn't get into Europe two years ago. He's desperate now.
"We always punch above our weight. We're fifth or sixth bottom in terms of attendances and wages. I think the expectation level at our club got a bit out of hand at the start of the season when the new signings came in and it was a bit disjointed, but we've got it together a bit since.
"It's what happens next that counts. The lights normally go out now. The chairman will be jumping for joy because we are safe with 14 games to go, but can we push on?"
- Guardian Service
