David Moyes hyped Everton’s “resilience” and character after the Blues’ excellent 1-0 win over high-flying Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Despite missing several key players and entering the game on the back of a poor run that saw them crashing out of the FA Cup against Sunderland, the Toffees gave a great account of themselves.
Merlin Rohl struck the post just 11 seconds into the contest to set down the marker while Jake O’Brien’s header was harshly ruled out as offside. Thierno Barry scored his third goal in the last four league matches to secure all three points and ensure the Blues’ return to the top half of the Premier League table.
“There's something about Everton, something about the resilience, something about the club, something about the supporters that can make those magic moments happen," Moyes said after the win.
"I've got to say, I came here a bit worried about what we had available to us, probably more to do with what we were missing and how we'd go about it, but we've worked all week.
We're really sore from the last week, and I've been struggling to show my face because I want us to be doing well and I felt like we hadn't done that well after going out of the Cup.
"I said to the players, 'Let's give the supporters something today', and with the players we had available – and it's no disrespect to them – it's an incredible result against a team that's challenging for the top of the league. They might have been missing one midfield player but we were missing four or five regulars, which has shown in our recent performances – but it didn't show today.
"I think this will give us a huge boost. We've been waiting to get a lift and it's been a difficult sort of three, four weeks with people out and losing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Charly Alcaraz, and even behind the scenes today we had one or two problems going into the game and we didn't know if [those players] were going to be available or not, so we've had to cope with all of that.”
The Blues secured their first Premier League win at Villa Park since March 2016. It was also their 10th victory on the road since Moyes took over a year ago, with only league leaders Arsenal picking up more wins away from home since then.
The Toffees also secured massive away league victories at Old Trafford and Vitality Stadium and it’s a good time to be an away supporter, reckons Moyes.
"Look, if you're an Evertonian, you'd want to be an away supporter, at the moment, that's for sure," said Moyes. "Our results away from home – we're coming up with some brilliant results away from home. We know we need to turn it into better things now at home but if we're just focusing on today, I think the players did such a good job and work tirelessly to get [the win].
"They kept defending, they kept blocking things when we needed it and, look, we also had a goal chalked off, we hit the post after 10 seconds – so we were in and around it for long parts of the game. I thought we played really well on top of that."
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