Kendall fights for Everton cause

Ex-Everton boss Howard Kendall thinks they deserve Champions League football if they end fourth in the Premiership.
Liverpool could deny Everton that right if they miss the top four but win the Champions League - and get the Football Association's approval to replace them.

Kendall, whose 1985 side were excluded from Europe after Heysel, told BBC Five Live: "Evertonians will be looking back and thinking 'oh no, not again'.

"We believed we were the best then and we were denied the chance to prove it."

Kendall's team won the league in 1985, the year in which English clubs were banned from Europe after the Heysel disaster.

"We won the league that year, the Cup Winners' Cup and we were looking forward to the European Cup," he said.

Of the current side, Kendall added: "Everyone was tipping us for relegation with the sale of Rooney_79586.shtml'>Wayne Rooney. I think they've done a magnificent job and deserve to go into the Champions League."

Everton will be back in Europe for the first time in 10 years following Tottenham's defeat at the hands of Arsenal.

It means they cannot finish below seventh in the Premiership - guaranteeing them at least a Uefa Cup place.

Uefa reaffirmed on Monday it will not offer an extra Champions League place for an English team next season even if Liverpool win this year's tournament and finish outside the Premiership's top four.

If that happens the FA will have to decide who enters next season's competition - the fourth-placed team or the Reds

And Toffees boss David Moyes is fully focused on claiming fourth spot.

He said: "The players have done everything they can, we are really pleased with the way the season has gone here and we are optimistic that we can finish on an even more positive note.

"Considering what people were saying about us at the beginning of the season, this is a magnificent effort by the lads."