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ON DEMAND: Pre-Spurs Press Conference

Rafa Benitez spoke to the media at USM Finch Farm on Friday ahead of the weekend's visit of Tottenham Hotspur – and you can watch the manager’s press conference on demand below or on our official YouTube channel.

Watch the press conference now - or, check out all the key quotes below.


TEAM NEWS AHEAD OF SPURS CLASH

Lucas Digne is fine. He has been training so hopefully he will be available.

No Yerry Mina, no Andre Gomes, no Abdoulaye Doucoure and no Dominic Calvert-Lewin, so more or less the same [squad we had on Monday]. One of the reasons why we appointed the rehabilitation coach is because we want to be sure that we have these players fit as soon as possible.

ON WORKING ON THE CONFIDENCE AND BELIEF OF HIS SQUAD

Sometimes, when you are doing well, it's easier for the manager and when you are not doing so well, you have to think about how to improve things and especially, as you say, the confidence and the mentality. Normally, I used to go to the good things that we did, so we started the season really well. The players showed commitment, they showed the intensity and everything that the fans expect - we have to remember that and we have to go back to these first games when we were doing quite well.

ON WHETHER IT IS A BAD TIME TO FACE SPURS WITH IT BEING NEW MANAGER ANTONIO CONTE'S FIRST LEAGUE GAME IN CHARGE

No, you analyse everything and we know we will be playing against a very good team. We cannot forget about that. Conte is a manager with good experience and they have some good players, so it will be difficult. Maybe it's not the best moment because, as you say, with the new manager they have an extra motivation - but that is the difficulty of this competition. You have to compete against everyone at any time. We have to be ready. 

We saw against a lot of teams that we are capable of reacting, even in the last game that we lost [against Wolves], in the second half the team showed the commitment and reaction you are expecting. We can do this again against Tottenham on Sunday.

ON WHAT TO EXPECT FROM AN ANTONIO CONTE SIDE

They are aggressive but it depends on the team he coaches. If you coach Juventus they are the strongest team in Italy, if you coach Chelsea then they are one of the strongest teams in the Premier League...normally you have to be aggressive and on the front foot. His teams are going for the titles - he wants to be competitive and win.

ON FABIAN DELPH'S RETURN TO FULL FITNESS

At the beginning of the season we had too many players that had been injured for a long time in the past. That was one of the big issues we had to tackle, to bring players back.

Now we have Tosun, Delph, Branthwaite is coming back. Still we are missing Doucouré, Calvert-Lewin and Yerry Mina. They are key players for us, but we are bringing [other] players back.

Hopefully these players will have a big part in our success and we can win some games now.

ON EXPECTATIONS OF HIS PLAYERS AGAINST SPURS

I want my team to compete, give everything on the pitch and play good football in a lot of games. The reaction we saw in the second half at Wolves is how we want to play. I would like to see this every game. We know where we are. The team has certain characteristics and we need to look to improve certain things. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

I don’t want to lose one game. Not three of four in a row, for sure. We have to build a team that can be competitive in any game. These games when you’ve not done so well in the others are really important for the confidence of the players. We have to give everything and be sure, at least, we leave the pitch without any regrets.

ON ANTHONY GORDON'S FORM

He is doing well, really pleased for him to be called by [England] Under-21s. He is a player who is growing and getting better. He can score goals and he has to go there. He has to keep balancing his game. I am sure he will do well and be an important player for Everton in the future.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CAPTAIN SEAMUS COLEMAN

Seamus is a really important player for us. It is a crucial time for us because we have so many games coming. The fact we had too many players with long-term injuries in the past, we needed to assess that and control the situation.

Bringing back players like Seamus Coleman is really important for us. It is really important to have more bodies and players who can make the difference and be an example for their teammates.