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Norwich City vs Everton

Match and 2013-14 Season Preview

A new season and, potentially, the start of a new era at Everton as all the anticipation, expectation and apprehension surrounding Roberto Martinez's appointment as David Moyes's successor gives way to the landmark of his first competitive match in charge.

Though a curtain-raiser at Goodison Park would have been a more fitting introduction to the Spaniard's reign, a trip to Carrow Road offers the chance to get the new season off to a flyer away from home before the visit of West Bromwich Albion next weekend. The Blues won just four times on the road last season and there's no question that three points from the first away game would provide a tremendous boost as Martinez plots to improve on the sixth-place finish earned in 2012-13 without massive expenditure on the squad.

Martinez announced his arrival at Goodison with four signings inside his first 10 days in charge, adding much-needed depth up in goal, in defence and up front, as well as an unpredictable prospect in midfield in the form of Barcelona prodigy, Gerard Deulofeu.

Together with the further development of Ross Barkley and the meteoric rise to first-team contention of John Stones, the threadbare squad that frustrated Moyes's attempts to resuscitate a faltering Champions League charge last term looks a good deal healthier coming into the new campaign... although it's hard not to cast envious eyes at the targeted acquisitions made by Andre Villas-Boas at Tottenham, for example, and not feel that Everton are still a couple of top-class players away from being able to trouble the top four again.

Though Martinez's costliest acquisition, Arouna Kone, won't have fired the imagination like someone younger and more prolific might have done, the Ivorian brings important competition for places in the striker role. He will also offer something different to the more predatory and service-reliant Nikica Jelavic and the erratic Victor Anichebe who is still learning to harness his physical strength and eye for goal and balance them with an uneven temperament.

Where neither of last season's primary strikers proved adept at prowling the channels, Kone should be more versatile in that regard in a system geared to moving the ball around on the floor. He would seem to be an unlikely starter this weekend, however, given how short of match fitness and sharpness he has looked over the pre-season programme. A shortage of gametime, no doubt down to his fasting for Ramadan, means that Evertonians have seen little of him so far but his decent return for a relegated Wigan team last season shows that he could be an important part of Martinez's arsenal.

So, too, should Jelavic if pre-season is any indication. The Croatian has rediscovered his goalscoring instincts over the past month, netting in three of the last five friendlies and displaying little evidence of the chronic lack of confidence and sharpness that plagued him last season. Time will tell if life under a new manager and new approach can revitalise him but it goes without saying that, if he can get back to the form he showed when he first arrived, Everton's prospects for 2013-14 will be greatly enhanced.

In goal, Tim Howard appears to have responded well to the arrival of Joel Robles from Atletico Madrid, the Spanish goalkeeper almost certain to provide more competition for the "number one" slot than did Jan Mucha. And with Sylvain Distin showing no signs of having lost his tremendous pace and awareness, Phil Jagielka reveling in the Captain's role and Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman forming potentially lethal weaponry down the flanks, the defence remains a strong part of the Blues' team.

One possible question mark with regard to the back line is the impact of the new boss's methods, formation and possession-based playing style, one that was a cause for great optimism based on the performance against Juventus but has in the friendlies since perhaps prompted some unease, particularly given the profligacy with the ball of the players against Real Betis last Sunday. Fatigue from the USA trip will undoubtedly have played its part, though, and to the extent that Martinez has altered the layout of the team and attempts to retain the ball, matters will become a little clearer when the Blues cross the white line for real come Saturday.

The manager is known to favour a three-man defence and will almost certainly experiment with it over the course of the season but he hasn't used it since the Juventus game in San Francisco and it's unlikely it will be deployed against the Canaries.

As ever, it's in midfield where the keys to the season lie; with the weight of evidence from last season, together with the (admittedly limited) indications from the pre-season games, doubts remain as to whether there is sufficient quality to propel the Blues into the European qualification places. Each of Darron Gibson, Leon Osman and Marouane Fellaini have shown they can be vital cogs in the machine and also match winners on their day but, against certain opposition, there is still the nagging feeling that we still need a string-pulling artisan like Mikel Arteta (who still hasn't been adequately replaced) or a driving box-to-box midfielder who can break up play and quickly turn defence into attack through the middle.

Unquestionably, therefore — to these eyes at least — the most important player in Martinez's squad is Kevin Mirallas; if he can avoid the injury problems that disrupted his first season in the Premier League and robbed the Blues of the Belgian's talents at a crucial part of the campaign, then he could make a significant difference to Everton's prospects.

With his pace, trickery and ability to turn a match on his own, Mirallas is potentially as important to Everton this coming season as Gareth Bale was to Tottenham's fifth-place finish last season. Given the right license to roam, his talent alone could compensate for the shortage of creativity in the centre of the park but there are obviously risks in relying on him too heavily.

Certainly, a reliable, consistent performer in the centre who offers more pace than Osman and more craft than Gibson or Fellaini would seem to be the missing piece of the puzzle. Leroy Fer had clearly been identified as an answer back in January but based on his summer signings, Martinez's priorities appear to have been elsewhere. He has hinted that he is still looking to add to his team before the transfer window closes; with the door still not closed to a late departure by Fellaini, there could yet be some drama before the end of the month.

That speculation and uncertainty will be on hold for the trip to Carrow Road, though, and, Gibson's knee injury notwithstanding, Martinez's starting line-up is likely to be a familiar one. Given the extent of his involvement in pre-season, Ross Barkley is likely to be the beneficiary if Gibson is ruled out, the 20-year-old a potential starter alongside Fellaini, Pienaar and Mirallas. It's not clear whether the new boss will persist with his predecessor's rigid adherence to a lone striker or use Mirallas as the auxiliary forward and add another option, like Steven Naismith, in midfield.

Norwich will come into the new season with quiet confidence given Chris Hughton's astute purchases over the summer, among them Fer, Van Wolfswinkel, and rumoured Everton target Nathan Redmond. The Canaries had a fair record at home last season, losing just four times and beating the Blues along the way in a game that probably sounded the dell knell on Moyes's final quest for Europe at the Goodison helm.

Those new players will need time to gel — thanks to a red card at the end of the Dutch season, Fer is suspended for this one — and with the opening day always a little unpredictable, anything could happen. Can the optimism of the dawning Martinez era translate into a morale-boosting victory to grease the wheels of his brand new bandwagon? COYB.

Kick off: 3pm
Referee: Michael Oliver

 

• Memory Lane – Game 1

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