Toffees played 10 European games but Howard says form is down to luck

Tim Howard says his side's struggles aren't down to Europa League

They could finish Premier League bottom half for first time in nine years

Tim Howard is adamant the Europa League is not to blame for Everton delivering what might be their worse season for nine years.

Perhaps the goalkeeper would have been better off hiding behind conventional wisdom, considering the disappointment of this elongated campaign which could yet see Everton finish in the bottom half of the Premier League for the first time since 2006.

Those prospects are dwindling, courtesy of a four-game unbeaten run, but there is no mistaking that Roberto Martinez’s side have fallen way below the standards set last season. The gap between their status now and after 32 games last season is 25 points, the difference between targeting a Champions League place and chasing the top 10.

Tim Howard is adamant the Europa League is not to blame for Everton's poor season in the Premier League

The Merseyside outfit played 10 games in Europe this season before being knocked out by Dynamo Kiev

Aaron Lennon scored for Everton at Swansea City but the game ended in a 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium

MATCH FACTS Swansea City (4-3-3): Fabianski 6.5; Rangel 6, Fernandez 6, Williams 6, Taylor 6; Ki 6.5, Cork 6.5, Shelvey 7.5 (Dyer 83mins); Sigurdsson 6, Gomis 6 (Emnes 17, 6.5), Routledge 6.5. Subs not used: Amat, Britton, Grimes, Tremmel, Fulton. Booked: Taylor, Emnes, Williams. Everton (4-2-3-1): Howard 6.5; Coleman 6, Stones 6, Jagielka 6.5, Baines 6.5; McCarthy 6.5, Barry 7; Lennon 6.5, Barkley 5.5 (Mirallas 86), Osman 6 (Pienaar 28, 6); Kone 5 (Naismith 76). Subs not used: Robles, Besic, Garbutt, Alcaraz. Booked: Kone, Howard, Lennon. Man of the match: Jonjo Shelvey. Referee: Michael Oliver 5. Attendance: 20,468. Advertisement

The demands of playing 10 games in the Europa League have certainly taken their toll but Howard rejected that theory, saying: ‘That’s something that’s been talked about for the last five or 10 years but it’s just a blanket statement people make. Champions League teams have to do the same thing.

‘They play Wednesday and Saturday and it’s tough but no-one blames Champions League football. Every football team does not have a god given right to be anywhere.

‘We’ve put in honest performances but things just haven’t gone our way. We could sit here and make a list of a thousand different things but it’s not the Europa League or anything else.’

The perception that luck has not gone Everton’s way extended to Saturday when Aaron Lennon’s first-half strike was cancelled out by a Jonjo Shelvey penalty. Martinez was incensed by the award of a penalty though it appeared a reasonable decision.

Neither side came out of the fixture unscathed, with Leon Osman of Everton and Swansea City’s Bafetimbi Gomis due to have scans today on respective groin and hamstring injuries.

Howard will not allow Europe to be an excuse for what could be Everton's worst season in nine years

Jonjo Shelvey of Swansea scores past Howard with a penalty to level the scores on Saturday afternoon

Swansea manager Garry Monk confirmed a striker is top of his summer wishlist after being left with no fit front men, while Everton, in the shorter-term, have been told to finish in the top half.

Howard added: ‘There’s a points total we want to achieve and get ourselves in the top half of the table.’

SUPER STAT: Everton named an unchanged team in the league for the first time since March 2014 against Fulham.