Injuries now hitting Everton hard, says David Moyes

Apr 14 2008

David Moyes

DAVID MOYES is concerned the absence of too many first-team regulars could jeopardise Everton’s Premier League run-in.

The Goodison outfit were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation- threatened Birmingham City on Saturday.

Joleon Lescott’s 78th-minute header appeared to have earned the visitors the points only for on-loan Mauro Zarate to curl home a free-kick five minutes later.

Everton have picked up just five points from their last five games as they battle with Liverpool for fourth place and the final Champions League qualification berth.

With Tim Cahill and James Vaughan already ruled out for the season, the pair were joined on the sidelines at the weekend by Mikel Arteta and Leon Osman.

And Moyes admits the unavailability of so many key players is having a detrimental effect on his team’s fortunes.

“It’s obvious that we aren’t firing on all cylinders right now,” said the Everton manager. “I think we have to say we are missing players who are important to us.

“We’d have liked the freshness of James Vaughan, who missed the start of the season, and we were without Mikel Arteta, Leon Osman and Tim Cahill, who are big misses to any team.

“It’s really made it very difficult to see how we can put out a midfield which we feel we will get us some form of result just now.

“What it shows is that with injuries it is very difficult, whatever club you are. Especially if the injuries are to key players, it always takes an effect.

“You can have as many players as you like, but you always need your best players in the team. And we’re missing too many of them at the moment.”

Lescott’s goal was his ninth of the season, and Moyes has challenged the England international to reach double figures before the end of the campaign.

“To get nine for a centre-half is fantastic,” said the Goodison manager. “I’ve said to him that he should aim to get 10 goals and if he does it will be a great return for a centre- back. Hopefully he can try and do that before the end of the season.”

Of the game, Moyes said: “It was an opportunity missed. We are disappointed not to take three points but in the end maybe we didn’t deserve it because we didnt play well enough.

“We got the goal and I thought we would see the game out. I actually thought our defenders were our best players. I thought Jagielka, Joleon Lescott, in the main, did the job cleanly, and our goalkeeper did very well, so I expected them to keep us in it.

“I think there’s a great spirit among the players. They are really strong; we’ve worked really hard this week to try and make sure they got a result. We’re struggling a little bit for our form, but we’ve just got to try and keep picking up points.”