Dwight McNeil believes Everton have a greater togetherness this season, praising the Blues for an “amazing performance” during their 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest.

The winger scored the only goal on a cold Saturday evening at the City Ground, firing the Toffees into the lead with a well-taken left-footed strike in the 67^th minute.

A defiant defensive display helped Everton to secure all three points - the Blues' sixth away win in all competitions this season and third on the bounce. Sean Dyche’s side have now won four Premier League away games in this campaign, as many as they won on the road in 2021/22 and 2022/23 combined.

The winger, whose crucial goal was his first of the campaign, recalled how advice from teammates aided his efforts in netting the game’s only goal.

“I think I was just anticipating,” said McNeil, describing his second-half strike. “The lads have told me to get to the back post because I’ll get more goals, so I just anticipated, and the luckily the ball fell to me. It was just one of those strikes that end up going in the back of the net.

“It’s massive result on the board for the team - especially with what’s happened. We definitely deserved the three points today. I thought we were amazing for the full 90 minutes.

“I’m happy to contribute and I’m happy with the team win, and I think the most important thing is the three points on the board.”

Everton have scored first in four of their past five Premier League games and have never lost when opening the scoring under Dyche.

The Blues’ team spirit was on show throughout, especially towards the end of Saturday’s encounter, when Forest threatened to equalise through three chances and plenty of pressure in the final 10 minutes.

Nevertheless, the Toffees held to earn three consecutive away league victories for the first time since February 2021.

McNeil believes the Everton squad possesses a greater togetherness this season - particularly after the Premier League commission’s decision to hand the Club a 10-point deduction last month.

“It’s definitely galvanised us,” said McNeil, on his side’s response to the deduction. “I think we’re definitely a stronger team this year. We’re more together and it shows out on the pitch.

"We’re putting good performances together and now we’re getting results to show for it. We know we want to kick on this year and get more wins to try to get as high as we can in the league.

“We know we have the fans behind us as well. They’re amazing every game, so it’s all about focusing on ourselves and taking it a game at a time.”