Dyche hails the travelling supporters who are firing Everton’s bid to overturn 10-point penalty on tough away trips
SEAN DYCHE is hoping Everton’s fans can roar them back to winning ways this weekend.
The Toffees stopped the rot of four defeats on the spin with a hard-fought FA Cup draw at Crystal Palace last week.
That goalless game at Selhurst Park saw 4,000 fans make the trip from Merseyside to south London on a Thursday night.
It came after a Carabao
Cup exit on penalties against Fulham and three Premier League defeats in a row against Tottenham, Manchester City and Wolves.
At Molineux, the fans (right) showed their support for the team and their fury at the 10-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s financial rules.
Everton welcome highflying Aston Villa to Goodison on Sunday with the Midlands club looking to get some momentum again.
Unai Emery’s side dropped points against Sheffield United and Manchester United before beating Burnley with a late and controversial penalty at the end of December.
But Dyche is hoping his club’s fans can help stifle Villa’s title hopes and push Everton closer to safety.
“The fans are united with what’s going on,” he said.
“I think that was clear, and I think they sh ow ed th eir mentality to help the lads at the end to make sure we didn’t get beaten against Palace.
“They’re playing their part without a doubt, and we really want that to continue.
“We’ve got to keep playing our part on the pitch, so there’s that nice connection.
“The mentality of the players, shared by the fans was terrific again. The numbers that went down there on a Thursday night – amazing.” Everton could head into the Villa game back in the bottom three if fellow strugglers Luton beat Burnley on Friday night.
The Toffees were thrown into the relegation scrap after the points deduction, which they are appealing. But they have won eight league games this season which is only matched by Wolves in the bottom half of the table.
Now Dyche is hoping they bounce back from disappointing defeats like they did at the start of the season when they lost their first three games against Fulham, Villa and Wolves.
“Even when results haven’t gone our way and we’ve had a couple of blips – the Villa one and the Wolves one – we’ve come out of that very quickly,” he added.
Everton have won their appeal on Dominic Calvertlewin’s red card at Palace.
The striker, 26, was sent off for the first time in his career over a studs-up challenge with Nathaniel Clyne (below left) but only clipped the Palace defender’s shin with minimal contact and was in full control of his body as he claimed the ball.
Calvert-lewin was facing a three-game ban but he will now be free to face
Villa.
RYAN TAYLOR
IAN MAATSEN has signed a new two-year contract extension with Chelsea ahead of a season-long loan to Borussia Dortmund.
The Dutch left-back, 21, is due to undergo a medical in Germany today before his move to the Bundesliga.
The agreement does not include an option to make the transfer permanent as Chelsea are hopeful his stock will rise with regular playing time.
Maatsen’s (right) Blues contract will run until June 2027 and there is a release clause written into the deal that will become active at the end of the season. Dortmund will pay a loan fee of £2million.
Attacking midfielder Andrey Santos is taking a break from club football after Chelsea recalled the Brazilian from his loan spell with Nottingham Forest.