Q&A: Tarkowski On ‘Outstanding’ Midfielder & Opportunity For Blues Trio

James, we've only got a couple of games left in 2025. Looking back over the year, how was it for you?

Well, I suffered an injury for the first time in a long time, which was something I had to work through, but I came out the other side of it and managed to get back fit for the start of this season. 

So, I'm pleased that I managed to work my way through that in the summer and get fit again. 

And then in terms of the football, pretty good overall. I think our current league position is probably pretty fair for where we're at. We had some good wins and then some disappointing results as well. 

But we know we're a team who are progressing and still working to get better. And there's probably signs of that, I think, in the way we play. There’s just a little bit of inconsistency with results at times, but we're sort of expecting that because we are a work-in-progress.

You’ve restarted your impressive run of consecutive games. What can you achieve, do you think, in 2026?

Yeah, hopefully play every game again if I can. I want to keep racking up appearances – as many as I can because I haven't got years and years ahead of me so I want to play as many games as I can while I'm still playing.

You've got a bit left yet I think!

Oh yeah, I've got plenty, but I know I'm not getting any younger. As soon as you get a three at the start of your age, everyone starts questioning if your legs are going at some point! So, I'll try to avoid that.

It doesn’t feel long ago when you were coming through at Oldham and then Brentford and then Burnley, who you play next. How do you feel about going back to Turf Moor these days? You would say Everton is your home now, isn't it?

Oh yeah, this is definitely my home. I loved my time there. I left in a disappointing way in terms of the relegation we had at the time, but the six-and-a-half years before that, I loved every minute of it. 

We had some great success there and yeah, it's nice to go back. I mean, there's a lot of different faces there now. I probably won't know many people left, but it's still great to go back to Turf. But hopefully it’ll be a good day for ourselves and not for them.

In terms of how Everton are doing at the moment, what sort of form do you feel going into this game?

We're on the back of two losses, but not necessarily two bad performances. The game at the weekend against Arsenal was always going to be tough and we stuck right in there. We're right in the game at the end without creating a whole lot of chances. 

The game finishes 1-0 with us attacking late on in the game against a team who's top of the table, so we can't be too disappointed with it. 

Before the Chelsea game we had four wins out of five so we've been in a decent place. I mean, we've lost a couple of important players, a couple of lads have gone to the AFCON, Kiernan's got injured so we've had to change our setup a little bit in terms of personnel and maybe style slightly.

But we've still got a good team that's getting put out there so we're expecting to put wins on the board.

How difficult does it make it without key players like Idrissa Gana Gueye, Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall?

Well, it's up to the lads who are going to come into the team to take the opportunity. The team's been pretty consistent, especially in the forward areas throughout the season. 

Ili has probably started every game, Kieran's probably started every game apart from one when he got suspended. So, there's two players who've played every minute so far until the last game. 

So yeah, we have to adapt with players like Tyler Dibling, Dwight McNeil, Charly Alcraz. It's an opportunity to go and play. They've been working hard on the training pitch and waiting, biding their time, and now, here's your chance.

We were speaking to James Garner earlier. How do you think he's been doing this season?

Oh, he's been outstanding. I mean, we all knew how good Jimmy was since the moment he signed here. He's had a couple of setbacks with longer-term injuries when he's missed probably two, three months of football. 

But now you're seeing him week in, week out and how good he is. And you can put him anywhere. He can literally play any position on the pitch, and he'd play out of his skin.

He's physically really good, technically outstanding, makes great decisions, affects the game going forward and also defensively. He's got everything, so we're lucky to have him.