Pienaar sits out tonight’s game after being sent off for two bookable offences on Saturday. Pienaar has been targeted by opponents in recent weeks but Moyes believes the South African is capable of handling the tough treatment.

The Goodison manager says: “Would you have the challenge Jamie Carragher had on Steven Pienaar as tougher than the one Steven Pienaar had on Steven Gerrard? Which one more merited a yellow card?

“The point is, it was nothing. We knew what Carragher would be like. We saw him against Tottenham, we knew he would be tough.

“But Steven Pienaar is a really tough boy, a really, really hard boy, and it didn’t worry me one bit. He will certainly be able to take the knocks and kicks.”

Another absentee is Fellaini as he recovers from his ankle injury sustained in the red-card challenge from Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

The Belgian’s departure pressed Mikel Arteta into early service on Saturday, but Moyes has intimated it is still too early for the Spaniard to be expected to start a game.

“Mikel played 50 minutes on Saturday and that’s more than I’d expect at this time,” he says. “It hasn’t changed my mind on him. I am still looking to keep him back a bit.

“But we haven’t had many reserve games for me to give him a 70-minute run-out, so he is having to find his feet back in the first team, which isn’t ideal.

“But we chose to do that because he’s influential and we want him back.

“I think there is still a psychological barrier with getting stuck in. That’s why I’m still saying I have to let him gradually get that back .

“You can’t put that on in training, you can only get it through games.”