Carlo Ancelotti says Everton are reaching a crucial juncture in their season, with an FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday ushering in an intriguing 10 days.
Everton are on the periphery of the Premier League’s top four after collecting four points from visits to Leeds United and Manchester United in the past week.
But Ancelotti’s side will park their league campaign when they tackle Jose Mourinho’s Spurs at Goodison Park with a Cup quarter-final place at stake.
Everton won 1-0 at Tottenham on the opening day of this campaign but Ancelotti is warning there is little margin for error if his team are to achieve a repeat.
Spurs’ visit is quickly followed by Premier League home games against Fulham and Manchester City and the Anfield Merseyside derby.
“It is a crucial moment for everyone and an important period of the season,” said Ancelotti, speaking in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“Now we are really focused on the game tomorrow, to reach the quarter-finals is really important for us.
“The players know the difficulties and beauty of this competition, maybe they know better than me.
“They have a great desire to be competitive: to play fantastic games in the Premier League: to fight for the top and to try to win cups.
“They are really young and want to have fantastic careers.
“You can have a fantastic career by winning trophies and competing at the top.
“It will be difficult against Tottenham.
“They are a fantastic team, they have quality and strength in the squad, good organisation defensively and offensively and a good manager.
“But the last time against them was good and I hope we can repeat the game we had at the beginning of the season.
“We are prepared to fight and play a good game.”
Ancelotti insists Everton want to pursue success on twin-fronts this season.
The chase for a European position via a high Premier League placing, he says, is “important for the stability of the Club”.
Winning a trophy, continued Ancelotti, would deliver “happiness” to a supporter base longing for silverware.
He refused to view a potential quarter-final spot, however, as anything more than a step closer to the semi-finals.
And to reach the last eight, Ancelotti – who won the FA Cup as Chelsea boss in 2010 – must get the better of Jose Mourinho, a manager Ancelotti brackets among the world’s finest.
“We are really close in ideas of football,” said Ancelotti.
“It is an honour for me to be compared to Jose.
“He is a focused defensively and offensively, like I am.
“I think a Mourinho team is always in balance, which means they are doing a good job defensively and offensively.
“I know how much Evertonians want to win trophies.
“We are working on this, I don’t know if this season is the right time.
“What I can say, for sure, is we are doing everything to try to have trophies here as soon as possible.”
Ancelotti admitted he considers striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin to be “back” after the late goal which earned Everton a point at Manchester United on Saturday.
Calvert-Lewin’s astonishing scoring season was checked by a small hamstring issue last month but his goal at Old Trafford followed one in the victory over Leeds United three days earlier.
And after Everton scored five times against four goals conceded in their past two games the manager confessed his side is still searching for a happy medium between defence and attack.
“We tried to play attacking football and maybe sometimes didn’t have a good balance,” explained Ancelotti, who is waiting for fitness calls on both James Rodriguez and Jordan Pickford.
“Against United we showed what we were able to show in the past games: strong attitude, good spirit and one more point in the table.
“We tried to play an open game, we conceded three but also scored three, which is not easy at Old Trafford.
“We didn’t think to only defend.”
Robin Olsen will continue in goal against Tottenham if England international Pickford isn’t ready to return and Ancelotti added: “We are happy with his performances.
“We have trust and confidence in him because he is a good goalkeeper.”
