David Moyes wants Everton to take advantage of Tottenham Hotspur visiting Merseyside days after Champions League commitments - something they failed to do at Anfield last month
Everton will look to exploit any fatigue in Tottenham Hotspur’s squad when Thomas Frank’s side visit Merseyside just days after Champions League action. Spurs drew at Monaco on Wednesday night, earning a useful point through the heroics of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
They are one of nine Premier League teams with European commitments this season and David Moyes said it was important his Everton side sought to take advantage when the fixture list allowed.
The Blues boss was bitterly disappointed his side failed to begin well at Anfield last month, when a slow start cost them the chance of taking anything from a Liverpool side that had been embroiled in an energy-sapping match with Atletico Madrid days earlier. He appears determined not to allow his players to make the same mistake again when Spurs visit Hill Dickinson this afternoon.
Asked whether the commitments of other teams presented an opportunity for his own, Moyes said: “Absolutely, there's the effort that has to go into the midweek games and the Sundays, or whatever day you're playing.
“It's a huge effort for any club, so it gives us a little bit more time and maybe this year it'll be helpful.
“There is another side to having regular games. There are some players who you can't play often enough and you could give them game time, more often. I think that is helpful. But I'm looking at some of the results last night, I'm looking at Larnaca beating Crystal Palace, Villa against Go Ahead Eagles [Unai Emery’s side lost 2-1 in the Netherlands]. The European games are really tough.
“It wouldn't matter who you're playing, there's just a big, big trip, big. It's not an easy thing to be that good every game, if you know what I mean. It's not easy, it’s very difficult.”
Moyes, who took his former side West Ham United into Europe three times and oversaw success in the Europa Conference League, said the additional time he had with his players on the training ground in comparison to those seasons was helpful, given the progress he is trying to lead at Finch Farm.
He is in no doubt that he would rather Everton have to deal with the demands of European football than not, however. The Scot has repeatedly set the club's ambitions at qualification for the European competitions.
He said: “We were talking about it the other day, there are many more days of training. Sometimes you could have too many days training, in some ways, because recently I have been brought up with playing Thursday, playing Sunday, and that's nearly the way it goes for weeks.
“I've got to say, I hope in the future I get another chance to do it. Maybe not a Thursday, maybe a Tuesday or Wednesday, I mean if it was Champions League, but overall if it happened to be a Thursday then I would take that, that's for sure.”
One weapon at Tottenham’s disposal on Sunday will be Mohammed Kudus, a player with history with both Moyes and Everton.
It was Moyes who introduced him to the Premier League after signing him from Ajax - a deal that came a year after a loan move to the Blues, with an option to buy, fell through at the eleventh hour.
On the Ghana international, Moyes said: “He is a brilliant player. He's got so many attributes to his game. He is a great boy to work with. I hugely enjoyed him and had a good relationship with him.
“He has got great strength, great balance. It is very hard to knock him off the ball, he has the ability to go inside or outside. He could play several positions.
“I think his form last year wasn't as good by all accounts, but I see him doing lots of things, whether it be scoring goals or creating goals.
“And I think at the moment, from a distance, he'd nearly look like Tottenham's best buy of the summer. I'm not an expert on Tottenham, but that's the way it looks.”