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Coleman feels past experience will help Everton in relegation battle
Everton captain Seamus Coleman believes last season’s narrow escape from relegation can have a positive effect as they seek to drag themselves clear of the bottom three again.A year ago the club were mired in a survival battle when the right-back scored in a win over Leeds which was the start of a sequence of six victories which ultimate saved their top-flight status with a game to spare.
Fast-forward 12 months and the Republic of Ireland international grabbed a goal of potentially even greater value to beat the Elland Road side 1-0 to make it back-to-back wins at Goodison Park.
Already the club, with new manager Sean Dyche just three games into his spell, feels in a better position to stave off a first relegation since 1951 and part of that comes with the former Burnley boss’s organisational skills but also due to the squad’s experience of what is required to survive.
“Unfortunately, having been through it before, it does feel different this time,” said Coleman.
“Maybe last year you’re carrying it so much on your shoulders and you’re thinking ‘Oh my God, this club can’t be where it is’.
“But this year you realise that we’ve been here before, we know what it takes, we know that we’ve got to stick together – that’s the most important – and the manager’s played a big part in that in the last couple of weeks.
“The manager (Dyche) has come in, he’s got experience, he’s tough, he’s confident in himself.”