Everton are seventh in the Premier League table with the chance to move above Liverpool into fifth if they can beat Coventry at home. They are also into a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Fleetwood. This has been a promising start for David Moyes.
"When you start to talk about quarter-finals, it sounds good," Moyes tells Sky Sports. "Every Evertonian wants a cup run because we have been so long since we have been near lifting any trophies. My expectations are that I want us to be challenging." There was not huge optimism at the start of the season when Everton sold Iliman Ndiaye and were unable to make the signings they had hoped for late in the transfer window.
"We had a difficult summer," concedes Moyes. But it has been a better autumn. "I think the players have done a great job in getting ourselves into this position." But how about some credit for the manager too?
Everton were at a low ebb when he took over last year, but Moyes has more than stabilised, raising the standards at the club again. Next month, in his second spell alone, he will become Everton's longest-serving manager since Roberto Martinez - the man who first replaced him over 13 years ago. But there is a bigger landmark that he will reach at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Friday.
It marks 592 games in charge of Everton across two spells, equalling the record of Harry Catterick, the man who twice won the title with the Toffees. For Moyes, it is a source of great pride. "Making that amount of games is quite a big thing," he acknowledges.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "I am really respectful of the managers, Harry Catterick, Howard Kendall, who were here before me. They are names which are spoken wildly about from Evertonians." Moyes, the great survivor of the Premier League era, has his own place in the club's history. His longevity means that he has faced over 300 different managers in a career that has seen him pit his wits - and win - against everyone from Sir Bobby Robson to Mikel Arteta.
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