Euro Charge Still On

Tim Howard urges Blues to close gap on Villa next week.

Tim Howard says Everton’s European dreams hinge on next week’s fixture against Aston Villa.

Following the Blues’ draw against West Ham, Howard and company travel to Villa Park on Wednesday determined to stay in the hunt for a Europa League place.

The goalkeeper told evertontv: "If we could have gotten a better result (against West Ham) and at Wolves, the game would have had even more meaning in terms of allowing to have possibly gone above them on points.

"But still, we need to beat them and continue to put pressure on them and if we win, we will go one point below them.

"If we keep putting pressure on them and continue to play well, there are still four or five games to go for them to slip up."

Despite dropping points against Wolves, Birmingham and Gianfranco Zola's side, the American said that there is a desired points tally which is still attainable.

With five games left to play, it seems that a win from each of the fixtures will give the Club a great chance to achieve a place in continental competition for next season - something that Howard says the team are fully focused on.

"We're knocking on the door for Europe in eighth place and we know what it's going to take and the points total to get ourselves into Europe - and we're trying our best,” he added.

"Because of our last two results, we going to need other results to go our way now - we don't control our own destiny in that respect. It'll be difficult, but we still have our eyes on that."