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A mug punter or a smug punter - you decide...

ROBERTO MARTINEZ says Everton have nothing to lose in the FA Cup, which makes me wonder if he actually understands the rules.

Maybe being unable to lose is the only explanation he can come up for how he managed to win the tournament with Wigan. I’m still struggling to get my head round that one.

Martinez is under pressure for Tuesday’s cup clash against West Ham but although I remain a fan of the Spanish boss I fancy the draw. I can’t yet bring myself to back the Toffees.

One of the reasons I’m so fond of Martinez is because of what he has done with Christian Atsu. Everton wanted to loan the winger from Chelsea, but Chelsea wanted a guarantee that he would play.

Martinez wasn’t willing to do that, Atsu moved anyway and since then Martinez has hardly played him.

Now he’s got an injury and after that he might be off to the Africa Cup of Nations. Maybe more clubs should do this with Chelsea’s loan players and it might stop them buying up half the world’s young talent and loaning them out.

Anyway, fascinating discussion of Chelsea’s exploitation of the loan system aside, I’m convinced Everton aren’t going to sink much further.

The Toffees are too short for the win with Joel still in goal but despite their struggles they are rarely embarrassed at Goodison.

The Sam Allardyce bubble has got to burst at some point. Like limited oil resources, there’s only so much smugness available in the world and Allardyce is currently hogging 98.7 per cent of it.

The remaining amount is taken up by people who do yoga and they desperately want their smugness back.

So I’m expecting there to be no winners, except for that self-satisfied bunch of people doing downward-facing dog.

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