Saha gives Moyes a timely lift

TIMING is everything, as the old adage goes, and Louis Saha’s might just provide Everton with the firepower to fuel their pursuit of a trip to Wembley and a top-five league finish.

Saha’s shocking list of injuries from his four years at Manchester United eventually cost him his career at Old Trafford.

Everton took the chance on the Frenchman last summer but he had been sidelined since November with a hamstring injury just when they needed him most following a catalogue of injuries to their three other front-men.

With an FA Cup quarter-final at home to Middlesbrough next Sunday, Saha’s comeback with a sensational goal in this routine win over West Brom is just about the only piece of luck on the injury front for boss David Moyes of late.

With Brazilian loan signing Jo cup-tied, the 30-year-old could well find himself plunged into the front-line against Boro next weekend.

He played for 30 minutes as a substitute against the Baggies and, with a stunning turn and 25-yard drive into the bottom corner, clinched victory for Everton, his fourth goal in only 13 games this term. Colleague Leon Osman spelt out the feeling in the dressing room about Saha’s qualities.

“We all know he is capable of goals of that quality, we see him in training,” he said.

“When he arrived at Everton he had been injured for a while and needed sharpness. He achieved that and then got injured again, but this time he has come back looking fine.

“He is as sharp as anyone and that is the reward for all the hard work he has put in.

“With Jo cup-tied, Louis’s return could not have come at a better time for us considering the injuries to our other three strikers.

“It gives us options, more fire-power. We have had real setbacks this season with injuries to our strikers and Louis has now shown just what he is about.

“To have him back and looking as sharp as that is really good for us. It was a hell of a goal, I was right behind him and I could see it was going in from the moment he hit it.

“We are pleased he is back. Everyone knows the talent he has, and thankfully it will be available for us in the Cup quarter-final and for the final games of the season.”

Tim Cahill had headed his eighth of the season — making him the club’s leading scorer — before West Brom mounted a brave fightback with a brand of pleasing passing football.

But they did not have the power to really worry Everton, and remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

A team with more than just a passing game would have taken advantage of just how much Everton’s squad is stretched.

Albion manager Tony Mowbray insists he will continue with his footballing principles. He said: “I do not believe we are that far away from being a pretty good team in the Premier League.

“Everton do the ugly side of the game better than we do. They get their heads on to things and they are more aggressive and they make the physical side pay.

“But, football wise, we are not far away from being as good a team as Everton.”

EVERTON (4-4-2): Howard 6, Hibbert 6 (Osman 26, 6), Yobo 6, Jagielka 8, Baines 7, Gosling 6, Neville 6, Fellaini 6 (Saha 60, 7), Pienaar 6, Cahill 87, Jo 5 (Castillo 75, 5).

Subs Not Used: Nash, Lescott, Van der Meyde, Jacobsen.

WEST BROM (4-4-2): Carson 6, Zuiverloon 6, Meite 5, Donk 5, Robinson 6, Morrison 5, Koren 6, Valero 5 (Greening 53, 6), Brunt 6, Simpson 5 (Moore 57, 5), Fortune 6 (Filipe Teixeira 89, 5).

Subs Not Used: Kiely, Hoefkens, Cech, Menseguez.

REFEREE: Steve Bennett (Kent) 7: Controlled things well and was right not to award a goal when Jagielka cleared off the line.

MATCH RATING: *** West Brom were easy on the eye, as ever, but were let down by familiar failings. Everton go from strength to strength.