DAVID MOYES has warned his players there can be "no slacking" as he urged Everton to stop reserving their best performances for the Premier League’s leading contenders.

The Goodison outfit continued their excellent record against the so-called bigger clubs when they defeated title-chasing Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at home on Wednesday.

It came only weeks after a similar win at Manchester City, with Everton having also beaten Liverpool and taken points off Manchester United and Chelsea this season.

However, Moyes’s men have thus far failed to beat seven of the nine teams that lie below them in the Premier League and crashed out of the Carling Cup to League One side Brentford.

Another possible banana skin lies in wait this afternoon when Everton visit npower Championship strugglers Scunthorpe United in their FA Cup third round tie.

And Moyes revealed he gave his players a reminder in the dressing room after the final whistle in midweek that they have to raise their game against the lesser lights.

"I do worry a bit about the team’s mentality and I told them that at the end of the Tottenham game," said the Goodison manager.

"I don’t always like talking about the next game straight away because as a player it is not always the thing that you want to hear.

"But I told the players that there are no gimmes here for us, there is no slacking or resting because we have not earned it over the season so far.

"We have to go there and try and do the same again. It is for the players to show the right mentality and show they can do it in games like this not just the big ones."

Moyes added: "I felt it was important to say that because we had such a good, important victory that I didn't want them to think that this game (the FA Cup tie) didn't matter.

"You only have to look back at our recent history to see that we have suffered in this competition."