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Everton’s
Nigerian-born striker, Aiyegbeni Yakubu, is confident he can rediscover
the goal scoring form which saw him enter the record books of the
Liverpool-based English Premier League outfit.

In his debut season
with Everton, back in the 2007/08 campaign, Yakubu became the first
Everton player to score over 20 goals in a league season since Peter
Beardsley. However, the Nigerian international’s progress was truncated
by a serious Achilles injury in a November 2008 game against Tottenham
at White Hart Lane and had a slow return to fitness. This season,
Yakubu has found the back of the net just once, scoring the winning
goal against Stoke City, but he believes he is not too far off from
hitting peak form and insists he is in the mood to bolster an Everton
side that has scored just 14 times in 13 Premier League games this
season.

“I always believe I
can score and I believe I can score goals like I did here before,” he
said. “Even when I don’t score I feel I am not under pressure because I
honestly believe I will score no matter what. As a striker you need
goals, they give you that confidence. When you start scoring you start
to look fresher in games. For me to score means a lot and I think there
is more to come. I think my fitness now is really good, much better
than last season, even better than two seasons ago. When you are fit it
shows in your performance on the pitch. You aren’t tired, you want the
ball and you want to run. If you play for Everton, you have to be fit.”

Fighting for the chance

Yakubu, who over
the course of his football career has appeared for Nigerian side,
Julius Berger; Israeli side Maccabi Haifa; and the England based trio
of Derby County, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough, recently started seven
consecutive games but returaned to the bench for Everton’s last two
outings against Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers. He came off the bench to
play in those two games but feels the competition for places within the
Everton first team will drive him towards those heights once more. “We
have competition in the team,” he said. “Louis Saha is a good striker;
then there is Jermaine Beckford and Victor Anichebe, so I have to fight
for my place. For me, it’s a challenge. When you have people behind you
and by your side and they are watching you and looking to take your
place then it is a challenge. You have to work harder on the pitch and
give everything. For me to play, I have to take my chances when I get
them. I need to keep working hard and hopefully I can start scoring
regularly.”

Hopefully, that may come to pass when Everton travels to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland on Monday, November 22.