Gylfi Sigurdsson says Everton’s productive current run of form is heightening excitement among the Club’s players ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Liverpool.

Sigurdsson hit the decisive goal against Cardiff City on Saturday as Everton secured a fourth successive Goodison Park victory to climb into the Premier League’s top six.

Marco Silva’s side will go to Anfield for the 232nd Merseyside derby after winning five and drawing one of their past seven matches.

Sigurdsson insists Everton can draw encouragement from a string of ambitious performances away from home this season – most recently when drawing at Chelsea a fortnight ago. And he is further heartened by his side’s developing knack for banking three points from tightly-contested matches.

“I think all the boys have been looking forward to the derby since the start of the season and that feeling has grown with the performances we have been putting together over the past couple of months,” Sigurdsson told evertontv.

“We can take some confidence from the way we played at Chelsea. That was a good result because we backed it up by winning the next game against Cardiff. 

“The team is playing really well and getting results – and we are grinding out wins when we are not playing our best football.

“We dealt with a very tough and scrappy game on Saturday and we are happy with the past few weeks.”

Sigurdsson has directly contributed to eight Premier League goals this season, scoring six and assisting two. Additionally, the Icelander has created 32 scoring chances – a total bettered among top-flight players by only the cavalier trio of Eden Hazard, David Silva and Willian – and he will be one of the men charged with prising open a curmudgeonly Liverpool backline this weekend.

Jurgen Klopp’s team has conceded just five goals this term and remain unbeaten after 13 league matches.

Sigurdsson, though, boasts a decent personal record at Liverpool’s home ground. He has scored four goals at Anfield – including vital strikes in victories for former teams Reading and Swansea City.

He overcame an ankle problem sustained at Chelsea to have a telling say against Cardiff and is aiming to make a similar contribution this weekend.

A repeat of last season’s result – the teams drew 1-1 at Anfield, with the Goodison return finishing scoreless – would extend Everton’s undefeated run to a fourth game.

Victory would see manager Silva’s side retain their hold on sixth spot going into next Wednesday’s home game against Newcastle United.

“Things are looking good, we have been working very hard since day one under the manager and are putting together some very good results,” added Sigurdsson.

“It was a very satisfying result against Cardiff, we were happy with the clean sheet and the way we defended towards the end when they were putting a lot of balls into our box.

“We spoke about keeping calm and continuing to pass the ball if the match was tight and that was what we did

“Sunday is another very big game for us, we want to make it a good one and we will be ready for the challenge.”