James Tarkowski outlines double Everton incentive to beat Luton as relegation pressure builds

Captain James Tarkowski insists Everton are not heading to Luton Town on a “jolly” and although they’ve now secured their Premier League status, the team are determined to make it third time lucky against Rob Edwards’ side this season.

The Hatters, who returned to the English top flight for the first time since 1992 last year having dropped as low as the Conference in between, have beaten the Blues twice already this term having achieved their first-ever Premier League win with a 2-1 victory at Goodison Park on September 30 and then returning to the ground to record a 2-1 triumph in the FA Cup fourth round on January 27. However, after winning just one of their last 14 Premier League matches, they remain in the drop zone with three games to play despite Everton and Nottingham Forest’s points deductions. Sean Dyche’s men made relegation a mathematical impossibility with their 1-0 victory over Brentford on Saturday evening with what was their third home success of the week after beating both Nottingham Forest and Liverpool by 2-0 scorelines but while Tarkowski is that his side head to Kenilworth Road with some freedom, he maintains they won’t be taking it easy.

The defender said: “It’s a completely different situation. For us as players and staff, we want to win the last three. We’ve got a few days off so we’ll recover and go again on Friday night.

“We can go there with a bit of freedom and take the game on. Luton have beaten us twice this season so it’s on us to turn up and get the win.”

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Asked if the pressure is now on their hosts from Bedfordshire, Tarkowski said: “Yeah, to an extent, but there’s always pressure on us because the fans expect so much and rightly so. We’re not going there for a jolly up with our flip flops, having a day off. We’ll prepare right for the game and go there to win.”

Tarkowski is also hoping to put on a good show for Everton’s fans who helped roar them over the line to safety in their hat-trick of Goodison Park wins after being hit for six at Stamford Bridge. He said: “The team and the fans have fed off each other’s energy. Like I said at Chelsea, they’ve always stuck by us and they’ve been rewarded with three wins, a derby win earlier in the week and we’ve topped it off with another win today so it was a good week at the football club.”

Everton’s 1-0 over Brentford produced their third consecutive clean sheet and fourth in a row at Goodison Park. With 12 so far this season, the Blues now have more than any other club other than leaders Arsenal. Tarkowski praised the collective effort of all his team-mates in reaching that tally.

He said: “For the most, we’ve defended really well this season. The back four and Jordan will probably take most of the plaudits for that but it’s a team game and the lads in front of me and the rest of the back four do a hell of a lot of work. A lot of the focus will be on Jordan for the clean sheets but it’s a real team game.”