Everton are in fine form at the moment as they picked up their fourth win in five games against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Everton were 3-0 victors at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, which moves them to within touching distance of the Champions League spots.
Speaking after the game, David Moyes reiterated his European ambitions but noted he doesn’t think his side is quite ready.
Would you take Conference League right now, or see if we can finish even higher?
Moyes will need more goals from Thierno Barry for that objective to materialise, and the Frenchman did finally get off the mark yesterday.
With that said, here are three things learned from yesterday’s convincing victory against Sean Dyche’s side.
Everton can actually get Europe this season
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the win against Forest was that European qualification actually looks very achievable.
Everton have the foundations to remain in the top seven, as they’ve got a really solid defence, having recorded four clean sheets in their last five games.
Relive THAT stunning performance all over again. How far can David Moyes take Everton this season?✈️
Plus, the Premier League is super wide open this year, with so many teams dropping more points than usual.
Despite a bit of an inconsistent start to the season, Moyes’ side are only actually one point adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea, and they play the West Londoners next weekend.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is so much better in a deeper role
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall said his best position was at number eight back in October, and finally Moyes has started to deploy him in that deeper role.
It turns out the Everton star was spot on, as he’s definitely gone up a level playing as a more box-to-box midfielder.
Was KDH the signing of the summer?
James Maddison hailed Dewsbury-Hall after his third goal in four games yesterday, so clearly, the rest of the division are noticing his resurgence in form.
Thierno Barry has done enough to cancel search for new striker
Following the Forest game, it’s now becoming more and more apparent that perhaps Barry is doing enough to cancel the search for a new striker in the January transfer window.
Barry has been excellent in recent weeks, and his hard work was finally rewarded with a goal at the Hill Dickinson yesterday.
Will Barry really kick on now?
Moyes had been looking at Joshua Zirkzee and Troy Parrott, but the Scotsman may decide to just stick with the Frenchman now and continue to develop him.
The 23-year-old could really kick on now that he has his first goal, so it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on over this festive period, leading into the winter window.
Receive a digest of our best Everton content each week direct to your mailbox
