Moyes' Programme Notes For Forest Clash

Welcome back to Hill Dickinson Stadium for this afternoon’s visit of Nottingham Forest.

We’ve had a mixed week of results, but that seems to be the way the Premier League is shaping up this season with a number of unexpected scorelines.

One of those unexpected results came here last Saturday in our defeat by Newcastle United. You could maybe say that our victory at Bournemouth on Tuesday was not expected by some people, too, given our fortunes there in the past and the way they have started this season.

We went into that match a little short on personnel but the players we did have available went about their job brilliantly well and in the end secured for us, I believe, a thoroughly deserved three points.

It was good to see Jack Grealish getting himself another goal. That was something we have been pushing him to do and this goal, just like his last one, was hugely important. Hopefully he can carry on creating and scoring goals.

I couldn’t come away from Bournemouth without giving huge praise to our away support. First of all they took the time to travel all the way down to the south coast, probably with some degree of trepidation given how difficult a place it has been for us to win in the past.

But it turned out to become a truly great night with a wonderful atmosphere generated by our supporters. Hopefully all of you who made the journey enjoyed the occasion.

It was brought to my attention afterwards that our away form over the past 11 months has been so good that only Arsenal have taken more points than we have in the same period.

The players deserve the utmost credit for that record – but now we need to focus on picking up more points in our home games and today we have an opportunity to try to do just that.

If we are going to be successful in that aim we must overcome a Nottingham Forest team led by a manager you all know well.

Sean Dyche led the Club through a very difficult period and he and his staff put an awful lot of hard work and effort into ensuring Everton remained a Premier League club.

They did a great job in steering the Club through a very challenging time, but Sean returns today with a different hat on.

I’m sure he will be interested in seeing the new stadium which was such a big talking point throughout his time as manager. I hope he doesn’t enjoy his return too much!

There is no doubt we are only just starting to rebuild a new Everton team.

One thing I will say about our players here is they have shown great unity. They have been enormously competitive and have tried to challenge so many teams this season and last.

We are still at the start of our rebuilding process and during that spell it won’t always go right for us, but the one thing you can do is stand by those players and keep supporting them.

We have enjoyed some great moments together recently and we’ll need your support throughout the season, even in the tougher moments.

Enjoy the match.
David