The Toffees traditionally performed much better from January onwards under David Moyes, and their new manager is looking for more of the same in the search for a top-four finish

Roberto Martinez is paying no attention to Everton's impressive Premier League placing and is only hoping for a strong end to the campaign.

The Merseysiders moved up to fourth in the top flight on Saturday courtesy of a comfortable 2-0 victory over Norwich City, with the arrival of new signing Aiden McGeady confirmed before kick-off.


Martinez has history of finishing campaigns strongly, leading Wigan to Premier League survival in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, but his sights are now set higher as Everton eye a first top-four finish since 2005.

When asked at which point he would begin to take the table seriously, Martinez told reporters: "The last nine games. In the league, I like to work towards the final third of the season.

"When you go into the last nine games of the campaign, that is when you get that extra significance from every point depending on where you are in the table and whether the other results affect your position.

"At the moment we're still trying to get as many points as we can and we're working towards that tally.

"Remember the last four games of the season at home - they are against the teams that we are fighting at the moment so we try just to get better and better.

"I thought some of the play we had was electrifying and really very good. We need to keep on improving and hope we can get into that final nine games of the season as strong as we can be."

Everton face the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City in the final nine games of the season.