Everton will be keen to put their weekend defeat to Tottenham Hotspur behind them, with James Garner sharing what they’re looking to work on in training this week.
David Moyes will take his side to face his former club Sunderland on Monday night at the Stadium of Light.
Things won’t get any easier for Everton, with the Black Cats offering perhaps the surprise package of the Premier League season.
Regis Le Bris has guided his side into the top four and pulled off a stunning away win at the weekend against Chelsea.
Gary Neville was far from impressed with Everton’s set piece defending against Spurs, which will have to be tidied up ahead of Monday night.
In truth, the scoreline did not reflect the performance from the Toffees on Sunday, but Garner has already spotted something else that drastically needs to be improved.
Everton v Tottenham Hotspur - Premier League
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Everton focusing on key improvement ahead of Sunderland
Garner shared potential frustration over Jake O’Brien and his attacking input from the right-back spot for the Toffees.
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A lot of the pressure is being put on Everton’s wingers as a result of the struggles Vitaliy Mykolenko and O’Brien have faced going forward.
Speaking to the club’s media team on the back of the loss at the weekend, Garner hinted towards what will be worked on at Finch Farm this week.
“It was tough. They stuck their wingers right in front of our wingers to try to stop them getting on the ball. That’s where we’ll work on a little bit – playing through the lines and finding different routes to get it to our danger men rather than just going straight to the source,” he said.
“There’s a lot that we need to improve on, and we need to be ready for next week [against Sunderland].”
Moyes has waxed lyrical about Garner this season after the midfielder has filled in at full-back on numerous occasions.
More support is needed for his wide players in attack, but that may not be fully addressed until the January window.
Everton need to learn from Tottenham lessons
There is no doubting that Tottenham did not blow Everton away during the game at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Moyes is adamant that the result flattered Tottenham, but there were some things that the Blues could learn from Spurs.
Tottenham’s final goal came as a result of their attacking right-back, Pedro Porro, who surged forward before whipping in a delicious cross that worked its way eventually to Pape Matar Sarr.
Currently, Everton do not have a full-back who would be capable of providing a piece of play like that.
Mykolenko has only provided three assists in his 130 appearances for the Toffees.
Everton are keen to sign an attack-minded full-back in January, but changes are going to be needed before then to help the likes of Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish.