PHIL JAGIELKA is convinced Everton FC will banish any safety-first tactics and go back on the attack in this weekend’s Merseyside derby.

David Moyes adopted an unashamedly defensive formation for last weekend’s visit to Premier League high-fliers Manchester City.

Everton went into the game without a recognised striker in the starting line-up, and their approach was paying off before goals in the final quarter from substitutes Mario Balotelli and James Milner consigned the visitors to a 2-0 defeat.

Moyes’s negative tactics caused a ripple of consternation among supporters unhappy at seeing their team playing for a point against opposition they had beaten seven times in the previous eight meetings.

But Jagielka believes Everton will go for the jugular when Liverpool make the short journey across Stanley Park on Saturday.

“It’s still going to be hard against Liverpool, they’ve had a decent start to the season so we’re not pretending we’ll up against a Liverpool that is struggling,” said the England international.

“They have brought in a lot of good players and a lot of good quality. As much as we say we are looking forward to the derby, we aren’t expecting to automatically win it.

“But we will be trying our best to get three points, whereas against City it was more us looking for a draw and maybe nicking a goal.

“We changed things around a little bit for the City game, so hopefully we can go back to the way we have been for the Liverpool game and put up a performance and try to get a win. It’ll be nice to get back to that.”