David Moyes believes Everton’s recent form against leading Premier League teams has opened players’ eyes to their true potential and influenced his decision on their futures.
The Everton manager admits he did not expect many points from an April schedule of Liverpool, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Chelsea when he studied the fixture list on his return to the club. Everton’s opponents were the league’s top five at the start of the month. A narrow defeat at Liverpool, a draw with Arsenal and victory at Forest, however, have altered perceptions of Moyes and his players before they encounter Pep Guardiola’s side at Goodison Park on Saturday.
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“A lot of them are beginning to say: ‘We can play at this level,’” said Moyes. “That’s why I said a few weeks ago that it will be interesting to see how they deal with this challenge and how they are going to perform against the top teams. Ultimately you have to try and give them games. We might be able to beat some of the other teams in the league but we have to see if we can challenge the top teams and I think some of them are standing up and doing really well.”
Only four teams – Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Arsenal and City – have collected more points than Everton’s 21 since Moyes replaced Sean Dyche in January. Everton were fifth from bottom and one point above the relegation zone when Dyche was sacked, after three wins in 19 league games, and Moyes admits the upturn will affect players’ futures. Thirteen members of the squad are out of contract this summer, including loanees, and Moyes will have a major say on renewal offers.
“The players have shown a brilliant attitude to it,” he said. “None of them have knocked off. And nor should they. They’ve been down in the doldrums for the first six months of the season and now they are getting a taste of enjoying the feeling of winning. They are like: ‘I’m getting applauded by supporters, people are shouting my name because I’m chasing and I’m doing all the jobs.’
“That’s a much better feeling to a player than the other side of it. Hopefully they are realising it makes a big difference. It’s making a big difference to me in the decisions we’re going to make about them in the coming weeks and months.”