“If I had my way and we had enough bodies I’d probably want to give him a breather,” said Moyes. “He knows that, I’ve spoken to him about it.

“But it’s noticeable that we're just a little bit short of people who we think could play in the centre. We’re just finding that we don’t have a great deal of options to use.

“You do expect a dip in form. Jack had to play all summer (for the England under-21s), I think he got a week or so off. Of course, he’s a young lad and we can’t be asking too much. But he’s done really, really well. He’s probably played more games than we expected him to.

“I’ll think he’ll keep improving with age and experience. The Premier League is a long challenge for any player and that’s why young players learn all about it. You have to do week in, week out.

“We aren’t expecting any of our long-term injured back until after the next international break, so it’s possible Jack will have to carry on. We might need to look at other alternatives but overall we have been very pleased with him. He's done really well and we just need to make sure we put him in and out at the right times.”

Moyes praised goalscorer Bilyaletdinov, whose strike was his first since arriving from Lokomotiv Moscow in August.

“Some of his final passes probably gave us our best opportunities,” said the manager. “But he’s coming to terms with it.

“I'm still finding where his best position is going to be.

“I’ve seen him play behind the striker, I've seen him play off the right and off the left.

“I think the thing is to try and get him into the pace of the game.”