David Moyes admits “difficult period” with players missing for Everton

Everton will be looking to return to winning ways on home soil after losing to Arsenal and Brentford in recent fixtures.

Not having won at Hill Dickinson Stadium since early December, the Toffees will fancy their chances against basement side Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves, having one of the most abysmal campaigns in recent memory, however, come into this game on the back of their first win of the season against West Ham United last time around. 

Everton, meanwhile, continue to miss several key players and despite the recent losses at home, boss David Moyes had praised the “magnificent atmosphere” at the stadium while also acknowledging the “difficult period” the club is going through at this stage of the campaign.

“I think the stadium has been magnificent,” Moyes explained. “The support has been fantastic, as always.

“We’re always saying keep your voices loud and keep supporting the team. Considering where we’ve been in recent years, we should be right behind a team that deserve it. The players deserve the support because of where they’ve been. 

“Obviously, we get support when we play well and we win. We’re trying to progress all the time. We’re trying to get better and we have to try and do that. 

“But this is a little bit of a difficult period for us and I hope that the Everton supporters will understand that as well. A bit short of players, a couple away at Afcon as well, but it’s just making life a little bit more awkward for us.”

Jarrad Branthwaite, Seamus Coleman and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are all out with hamstring problems, while Charly Alcaraz is missing with an unspecified injury. The Toffees are also missing their Senegalese stars Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gana Gueye who are at Afcon at the moment.

Despite these absences, the Blues are unlikely to be active in the January transfer window. “No, I think that we’re probably more unlikely than likely that we add to the squad,” he said.

“But I wouldn’t say that completely because obviously we’re looking out there to see what there is and we will see if we can get something.

“But, I just wouldn’t want to get everybody’s hopes up. If I say likely, then you might be thinking that that means that we’re on with something. 

“We’re looking at some players and we’re looking if we could add to it and if we can we will do, but we’ve been quite careful with it.”

 

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