DAVID Moyes has hailed the skills of striker Louis Saha as “near-genius”.

Frenchman Saha is enjoying an injury-free, and consequently a free scoring, season to date which has helped fire Everton to five wins in their last six matches.

Saha has scored eight times this campaign including six in the Premier League, a record which has seen Everton climb into the top half of the table after a difficult start.

Keeping their fingers crossed the 31-year-old stays clear of injuries, Saha is having one of the most productive spells of his career – and Moyes could not be happier.

Moyes said: “There are times Louis does things with the ball that are near-genius.

“He can do incredible things and when he does you realise how difficult it was for him when he was injured so often.

“He would say himself that there were occasions when he was perhaps not in the strongest frame of mind.

“But now he is far stronger, physically and mentally, and he has proved that we were right to take a chance on him.

“We knew when we signed Louis that we were taking a risk but the longer he has been with us the more he has turned into the player we all know he can be. His attitude has been fantastic.”

With no match over the weekend because of the international fixtures, the Goodison Park outfit were able to give Saha a well earned rest ahead of the visit of Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

However, a raft of Everton’s international contingent were in action across the globe in a mixture of 2010 World Cup qualifiers and friendly matches.