David Moyes believes Everton need to “win some big games” between now and the end of the season if they want to continue making progress.
The Blues are temporarily ninth in the league table after 26 matches and as things stand, still remain in the hunt for European qualification. They have some big games lined up in the coming weeks against Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea and Everton can’t afford to lose steam against sides who are above them in the standings.
“I think last year the nine games I had to play, I was thinking: ‘My goodness, how am I going to get any wins to stay in the Premier League?’ I think we’ve probably got over that completely,” Moyes said in the pre-match press conference.
“I think the challenge now is can we change mentality, can we change the whole direction we’re going in? We’re not going to be that team anymore, fighting relegation, we’re a team who are planning to try and challenge the teams in Europe.
“To do that, we’re going to have to win some big games in the run-in. We’re in a batch of big games.
“We’ve got everybody fit bar Jack Grealish. So, we’re probably in as good a physical shape as far as that goes.”
Everton players have enjoyed nearly two weeks of rest ahead of the game against Michael Carrick’s side on home soil. It comes as a breather especially for the Senegalese duo of Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gana Gueye who’ve accumulated a lot of minutes in recent months.
Speaking about the inconsistent schedule, Moyes added, “We’ve probably got a bit of disruption in terms of game times. We might have 10 or 12 days off, then suddenly we might have three games in eight days.
“So, we’ve not got a particularly consistent calendar in terms of the games, but we’ve certainly got hard games to come.”
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