Moyes' Verdict After Everton's Relentless Run

David Moyes praised his squad for coming through a relentless run against the Premier League’s top five with positives to take – while pinpointing the improvements needed for Everton to push forward.

The Blues went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday – Nicolas Jackson’s 27^th-minute winner proving the difference. Producing a much-improved second-half display – aided by the impact of substitutes including Charly Alcaraz and Dwight McNeil – Moyes’ men had chances to level, with Beto and McNeil both going closest.

The Stamford Bridge clash ended a sequence of matches where Everton have beaten Nottingham Forest away, taken a point off Arsenal and run Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea close in narrow losses.

Moyes feels the competitive edge his squad have shown throughout proves the Toffees are moving in the right direction, while accepting what is required to get even closer to the league’s best.

“We were much better in the second half. We were poor in the first half, but I think the subs made a big difference today,” Moyes told evertontv. “I think all of them came on and helped us, which is something we want. We didn't have it against Man City last week, but I thought today they did do it. So there was positives in the game we can take.

“I thought we started to control the game a little bit more [in the second half]. I thought the intensity and the speed of Chelsea in the first 30 minutes just about blew us away. We nearly couldn't win a second ball, a first ball. We were second to everything. We absolutely got squashed by their speed and power in the first period. So I thought maybe they might have run out of a wee bit of energy in the second half, which allowed us to get more control and we kept going and grinded out a decent second-half performance.

“While we were 1-0 down, we were hugely in the game. Over recent months since I've been in, we've been nicking a goal, maybe a late equaliser. We’ve not done that the past couple of games but you look at the opposition – Man City and Chelsea – it’s not easy. But we need to take our chances.

“Our set pieces were really poor today. It’s no good thinking you’re going to need to score one every so often, you need to score them all the time against the big sides because you’re not going to get many.”

CLICK HERE OR BELOW FOR DAVID MOYES' VERDICT ON CHELSEA 1-0 EVERTON

With James Tarkowski ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, Moyes opted to move Jake O’Brien to partner Jarrad Branthwaite in central defence, with Nathan Patterson taking the right-back role.

“We're obviously trying to find new things,” said the Blues boss. “Big Jake going to centre-half and Patto getting a game at right back. We’re having to find out a little bit more about the players who are in the squad and see what their capabilities are.

“I think the players have fared really well [over the past five matches]. We’ve not been out of any game in what has been a really difficult period. It never feels good if you lose two but we were in all of the games, we had chances and moments to get more out of them.

“I think the players have done really well. They’ve got great heart, great appetite and they do their best in every game they play.”