Football
9y

Everton's last games are 'nine finals' says Roberto Martinez

Everton will treat their final nine games of the season like "finals" as manager Roberto Martinez looks to swiftly put the team's Europa League exit behind them.

QPR host the Toffees at Loftus Road on Sunday, just three days after their European adventure was ended by a ruthless Dynamo Kiev outfit who extinguished the hopes of the last English club side left in a continental competition.

There is little time to dwell on a 5-2 defeat in Ukraine, which raised questions about Everton's defending, though, as attention turns back to the Premier League, a division which Martinez's side are not yet assured of playing in next season.

Six points separate them from the bottom three at the start of the weekend and the Toffees boss stressed the importance of finishing strongly to ensure they steer clear of the relegation scrap.

"It simplifies the objective now of being fully focused on the nine games that we have," he said.

"We've just arrived from Ukraine and we need to be ready for the game at Loftus Road where we will face a really enthusiastic side. They use the home crowd to their advantage and the ground to a very good effect.

"We see these nine games as nine finals. We want to get as many points as we can and we need to start looking at being able to perform in every game."

Martinez was criticised for his team selection in the second leg of the last-16 tie against Dynamo, with former Wigan centre-back Antolin Alcaraz held up by some as a scapegoat.

The Spaniard claimed he understood why his tactics were coming under scrutiny, but he again defended those he chose in Kiev and said it was wrong to point the blame in any one individual's direction.

"When you get a defeat with the significance that it had it's understandable," he added of the criticism. "We're all going to get criticised and we need to accept it. I don't think it was down to one individual, two individuals or personnel, I think it was the overall performance and we weren't as defensively sound as we should have been.

"You're looking at the back four, five that has been playing in the league, we had a clean sheet at the weekend against Newcastle and it's important to have some continuity.

"It's very normal to look back at events and say, 'If that would have been a different player it would have changed the performance.'

"It doesn't work like that. In football you need to have continuity."

John Stones was an unused substitute on Thursday and has recovered from a virus so could slot in to the back four.

However, Gareth Barry will have to come out of Martinez's starting line-up as he completes his two-game domestic ban for picking up 10 yellow cards.

Aiden McGeady is expected to be in the squad following a knee injury, while fellow midfielder Aaron Lennon is available, having been cup-tied in the Europa League.

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