Liverpool usurped Everton for fourth place for a short while last weekend, edging above them on goal difference, only to pop back under their rivals when the Toffees beat Manchester City 2-0 at Eastlands.

With Aston Villa desperately close to the two Merseyside clubs it is not inconceivable that goal difference, the footballing equivalent of a photo finish, will decide who enters the Champions League city of gold.

This fight to the finish means small issues can become huge - injuries, suspensions, form, and crucially, fitness.

'A fit and trim squad is worth an extra handful of points over the entire campaign'


Tottenham, denied by their ropey lasagna guts in their Champions' League quest two seasons ago, would almost certainly have finished fourth if the team had been dining on a Juande Ramos diet all that season.

A fit and trim squad is worth an extra handful of points over the entire campaign and there is no doubt that Martin Jol's rotund boys are a much more fearsome outfit now. Players like Tom Huddlestone have transformed physically and as a result Spurs are now starting to resemble Ramos’ Sevilla side, a team that proudly declared itself the fittest in Spain.

Mikel Arteta has spoken of his shock at hearing from Spurs trainer Marcos Alvarez that under Jol the Tottenham boys were scoffing on veritable bacchanalian feasts. Interestingly he also pointed out that when he joined Everton he was equally stunned by their diet, with fish and chips being served up at the training canteen and the Spaniard having to demand that the pasta and chicken was cooked to his dietary specifications.

Arteta went on to imply that this sort of thing was endemic in teams managed by Britons:

“In teams managed by foreigners this is something that is less and less frequent. But in teams like mine, it’s still an English tradition - this kind of food is our ‘daily bread’. When I arrived at Everton, the restaurant that we have in our training ground served fish and chips.

“But there are team-mates who are used to it and it’s difficult to make them change. So as a result when I arrived I started asking them to cook my pasta as I like it — and the rice, and chicken breast too!”

If Everton do miss out on fourth place while some members of the team still insist on eating fish and chips, questions will have to be asked as to whether a better diet would have helped.

Richard Dunne, a defender whose talent was dwarfed by his waist at Everton, looks like a new man at Manchester City now. Was that to do with the fabled fish and chips diet, too?

With such a big prize at stake, everything matters, and the truth is that to be a Champions League fat cat, you have to be thin. There is no doubt that on the whole Everton are a fit team, and have to be with their high-octane harrying style of football. But could even more be squeezed out of certain players if they had a better diet?

Arsene Wenger is rumoured to take forensic care over even the smallest details, even setting the temperature on the Arsenal team bus to the optimal settings for his honed athletes,

Should David Moyes be doing more?