Jordan Pickford claims Everton are too good to go down.
The keeper has been the one bright spot in a miserable Blues season and without him, they would be in even more dire straits than they already are.
With Ronald Koeman sacked, and temporary boss David Unsworth losing all three of his matches in charge, the club that spent £150million in the summer are in danger of the drop.
Yet Pickford – who experienced relegation last season with Sunderland said: “We’re not a club that is going to be a club that is the bottom three for long. It’s just that the luck hasn’t come our way yet,” he argued.
“We are not a side that will be in the bottom three. It’s a total different scenario for myself from last season. I think one win will get us to 13th or something in the league.
“That one win can become back to back wins. That is where the confidence grows and it starts Sunday.”
Everton face a season defining showdown with Watford tomorrow, and their gutless collapse in France does not bode well for a game that could see the big spending Blues go bottom of the table with almost a third of the season gone.
Pickford has stood between them and a humiliation at times, but he believes in the quality of his team-mates, and he is adamant that it is just bad luck and a lack of goals that has got them into this mess...and can be turned around.
“It’s been hard for Dom (Calvert-Lewin) up top this season and the luck hasn’t been there for him. He has worked his socks off game in game out,” he explained.
“He has scored a fair few goals but I think it’s been hard to replace Lukaku. I wasn’t here but I think he just pops up and scores. I think Dom has been brilliant for us.”
Asked if there is panic in the dressing room he added: “No, it’s too early, really. We have had a bad lot of games at the start. I love playing games week in week out but it has been a change with the Europa League and the season starting early.
“That may have affected us but we can’t make excuses as a group of lads. We have to just move forward, dig in, bite our teeth and get the win.”
Everton will try to regroup after yet another 3-0 defeat in Europe, a campaign that has proved an embarrassment for a club that had genuine hopes of winning the competition.
And £30m summer signing Pickford believes – despite the criticism – he has seen enough to believe there is enough character in the dressing room to get them out of this mess.
“Definitely. You have Rooney, you have people who have won medals like the senior players and that is where they help us.
“That is when the young lads now become big characters when they wear their hearts on their sleeves in the games. We won’t be struggling, it will only make us go forward and get the wins that we need.”
Rooney, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka and Tom Davies will all return for the game against Watford that Unsworth says is a cup final for the club, himself and his team.