Forget Results - Fellaini Is Everton's Biggest Loss

After week upon week of false dawns at Goodison Park, the last thing the Everton faithful would have wanted is for one of their top players to get injured. Given the club’s luck of late, it appeared almost inevitable that injury would strike down a key component of their squad as they look to avoid relegation and kick on up the table towards top-half solidarity.

One would have expected the player to be Louis Saha, a player with a track record of injuries, or Mikel Arteta, who is starting to come back into form after playing below-par for a long time. However, it is midfield engine Marouane Fellaini who suffered an ankle injury last weekend against Sunderland which requires surgery, leaving him sidelined until the end of the season at least.

Fellaini celebrates one of his nine goals from his debut season

After arriving on Merseyside from Standard Liege for a club record £15m fee in 2008, 23 year-old Fellaini has established himself as a first-team regular for the Blues. His debut season is arguably his best so far: he won the Young Player of the Year award having come to the Premier League with a reputation for being a box-to-box midfielder from his time with Liege.

Since then he has almost been forced to become more versatile. Everton’s luck with injuries has been nothing short of awful in the last few years and this left Fellaini to be deployed as a second striker behind Tim Cahill for large parts of his Goodison Park career.

His best position, in the eyes of those who know him best – the Everton fans, is defensive midfield (the ‘Makelele’ role) where he can make the Blues tick.

Occasionally, Fellaini will be anonymous. The recent loss at Bolton is an example of this though the performance of every Everton player on the day was, to put it very kindly, below-par. When he performs like he did in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea last month, he can be one of the best midfielders in the league.

Fellaini's influence will be a big miss for Everton

Following a superb performance in a home victory against Manchester City - in which he made a mug out of Craig Bellamy with a superb turn on the halfway line to the delight of the majority of the nation - Fellaini’s manager, David Moyes, was purring with the Belgian. He cited that Fellaini was “as good as anyone in the league” and it’s difficult to disagree.

It appears that when Fellaini plays well, Everton do too. This correlation has seen the 6 foot 4 midfielder become one of the first names on Moyes’ team sheet thanks to his ability to break up the play and start Everton attacks with his passing. Whilst he may not be the most aesthetically pleasing player to watch, he is effective. Interest from clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid does not come without good reason.

There seems to be some form of symmetry between last season and this for Fellaini. He missed the last part of last season with an injury after going in for a tackle with Sotiris Kyrgiakos in the Merseyside derby at Anfield. The time off will do him the world of good but, obviously, he is of no use to the Toffees from the treatment room.

Amidst all of the talks of crisis at Goodison Park from sceptical Blues fans, they should see that the biggest loss for Everton is not the FA Cup defeat to Reading but that of their midfield maestro.