Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford spoke following Everton's dramatic 2-2 draw at Brentford in stoppage time
Jordan Pickford believes he can put an end to questions suggesting he could play for a supposedly ‘bigger club’ if Everton can qualify for Europe this year.
The 2026/27 campaign will be Pickford’s 10th season with the Blues but he hasn’t played in European competition with them since being in the Europa League in 2017/18, straight after he joined for £25million from Sunderland in what was a British record fee at the time for a goalkeeper.
Last October, Everton hit back at Lee Dixon after, when commentating alongside Sam Matterface on ITV, he questioned why Pickford hasn’t joined a “bigger club” as the goalkeeper clinched World Cup qualification with England with a 5-0 win in Latvia.
The 2-2 draw at Brentford on Saturday keeps the Blues in eighth place with six games to go and level on points with the seventh-placed Bees and Pickford said: “It’s been a big roller-coaster. It would be a big turnaround from where we’ve come from and the battles we’ve had.
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“We went through tough and torrid times as a club to be fair, and we’ve come out of that now. In terms of performances in the Premier League, you can see the difference in that we’re pushing in the right direction to where we want to be as a football club and where Everton Football Club should be.
“For me, the Premier League is always tough, it doesn’t matter whether you’re playing the champions or bottom of the table, every game is a battle and if you’re not on point, you’ll get turned over. That’s what we’ve got to be ready for in these last six games.
“I’m at a great club. If we get Europe this year, those questions will be squashed.
“Everton’s been so good to me, and I’ve been so good to Everton, we’ve got a great relationship. I love the fans, the fanbase is quality.
“I’ve got the best chant that Everton fans sing. It takes some doing to get an Everton chant, let me tell you that.
“The club’s great. Everyone wants to be playing Champions League football and in finals, there’s no question about that, but why can’t we be pushing up the table?
“It might not be Champions League, it might not be Europa League, it might be Conference League but as long as we get into Europe and get a smell of it, that’s where the club should be at.”
Everton fell behind early on at the Gtech Community Stadium as Pickford brought down Kevin Schade in the area just two minutes into the contesy.
The 32-year-old had no complaints about the decision from referee Farai Hallam, who was taking charge of just his third Premier League match. The Blues ace said: “The penalty is a penalty. I go into a spread, he takes an extra touch, and I try and reach and just clip his foot.
“That’s football. Thiago has got a good penalty record but I’m there to make big saves in big times and it wasn’t just me, there were some good blocks from the other lads with some last-ditch defending from Jarrad (Branthwaite), Myko (Vitalii Mykolenko) and Tarky (James Tarkowski), as always. You’ve got to be resilient in the Premier League as there are moments where you are going to have to suffer as a team and it’s about coming out at the other side and that’s what we seem to be showing we can do.”
Pickford also admitted that Everton started slowly in both halves, but he hopes the draw can prove to be an important result for them. He said: “We definitely didn’t start the first half as well as we should have. The manager wanted us to come out of the traps, but I think that happened in both halves, they pinned us in, put a lot of balls into the box and we defended brilliant.
“We wanted to be on the front foot a bit earlier, but you’ve got to be resilient away from home. We’ve shown that and the record shows that and we didn’t give in and after going 2-1 down.
“There was some good play with Tim (Iroegbunam) driving for the ball, a ball into the back post and some calmness and composure before Kiernan (Dewsbury-Hall) with the finish for what I’d say was a fair result at the end.
“We were probably a bit itchy having not played for three weeks. We want to win every game we play in, and we’ve got a good record away from home, so we probably had some itchy feet, but hopefully we’ll be able to look back on this come the end of the season and it could be a huge point.”
ewsbury-Hall proved to be Everton’s man on the spot again to secure their stoppage time equaliser, but Pickford would have liked to have seen the midfielder score earlier in the second half as he had a one-on-one chance against Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher when the score was 1-1.
He said: “I’m disappointed he missed one earlier because I’d have got an assist on FPL (Fantasy Premier League). He’s scored some big goals in big moments and has been a great signing with the quality he has on the ball but also the work he does off the ball, goes unseen.
“We do a lot of hard work off the ball and Kiernan showed that today but then he stepped up with his left foot but if he’d hit that half volley earlier in the second half then he might have scored.”
Dewsbury-Hall’s goal was the eighth Everton have scored in stoppage time since David Moyes returned as manager. Six of them have changed the result of games with two winners and now four equalisers.
Asked about the Blues’ ability to keep going until the end, Pickford said: “We’ve got that resilience and that never-say-die attitude. For me, it’s about having that character and not giving up.
“There probably wasn’t one person when that second Brentford goal went in, who was sulking. It was more like: ‘How do we claw that back?’
“We probably played better after that. It’s about the character.
“They’re probably trying to hold on. In the first 25 minutes they were pushing, a bit more pressure, but as soon as they get that second goal, they drop off and it’s an opportunity for us to play.
“We’ve got that resilience as a team and the character. The fans come in their numbers every week and all they ask for is 100%. That’s what I’ve learned from playing for this football club and wearing this badge.”