Moyes' Programme Notes For Leeds Visit

Good evening and welcome back to Hill Dickinson Stadium for tonight’s visit of Leeds United.

We travelled home from Birmingham last Sunday evening delighted with what was an outstanding result and performance from the players, against an Aston Villa side who had been in really good form.

It was undoubtedly one of our best away wins of the season, due to both the level of opposition and the circumstances we faced, with players either away, injured or suspended.

January has been a difficult month for so many different reasons, so it was great we picked up another three really important points as we head into the second half of the season.

We play a Leeds United side tonight who we opened the season with in another Monday night match, a game in which a very dubious handball decision was the only difference between the teams. We have all moved on from there and this evening face a Leeds United team who arrive here on the back of some good performances and results.

We welcome Daniel Farke, his staff and his team. But I must also mention Dominic Calvert-Lewin who is returning to Everton for the first time since he moved on last summer.

Dom was a really important player during difficult times at the Club and during his spell here scored some really important goals for us. We’ll be looking forward to saying hello to him again, but can’t wish him well until after the game!

We hope that by kick-off time tonight we will have Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye back with us following their international commitments.

Last Sunday evening they enjoyed a remarkable win in the Africa Cup of Nations final and we were all watching and willing them on. We congratulate them on a wonderful achievement.

I should also make reference to tonight’s game being dedicated to All Together Now.

This is the campaign which highlights the Club’s work promoting and celebrating equality, diversity and inclusion and also tackling discrimination.

The Club is regularly assessed by the Premier League to see what steps it is taking to promote EDI and we are proud that we currently hold the Premier League’s ‘Advanced’ standard – its highest accreditation in this area.

We will continue to do all we can to make Everton a football club where everyone feels respected and welcome.

The last time we were back here we were disappointed to go out of the FA Cup on penalty kicks. The players worked incredibly hard to take the tie into extra-time but in the end Sunderland deserved their win on penalties.

That puts all our focus now onto the remaining half of the season. We did a lot of very good things in the first half of the campaign which we are pleased with.

We have to build on that now and push as high as we can possibly go in the Premier League. I want my ambitions to be high for Everton and I continue to remind the players what we can still achieve. Hopefully the return of players from injury in the coming weeks will help us prepare for the run-in to the season.

While we are hoping to welcome some players back, unfortunately Jack Grealish has picked up an injury. At the time of writing these notes we don’t know the full diagnosis or likely timescales, but he will clearly be missed and we’re all disappointed he’s going to find himself on the sidelines for quite a while.

Tonight we will be paying our respects to several great Evertonians we have lost in recent days. It was desperately sad to learn of the passing of Everton Giant Tommy Wright, the Club’s much-loved former physio John Clinkard and the FA Youth Cup winner Ian Macowat. Our thoughts are with all their families.   

Finally, I mentioned after the game last Sunday that it’s been a good time to be an Everton away supporter. Our form and our results away from home have been very good for a year. Now we need to bring that feeling and that belief into Hill Dickinson Stadium.

It’s never easy when a team first moves into a new venue, but our start to this season was good and we need to find a way to get even more strong performances between now and the end of the season.

It’s a fact that recently we have been able to celebrate more often with our away supporters than we have with our home supporters. That is something we’re desperate to change and give you all a great feeling every time you come here to the stadium.

We go out to win every game, but football doesn’t allow you to do that. We need your support when that isn’t the case.

Enjoy the match.

David