Roberto Martinez warns Everton ahead of derby showdown
Tuesday 29 September 2015 13:50, UK
Roberto Martinez has warned Everton's good form means nothing ahead of this weekend’s Merseyside derby with Liverpool at Goodison Park.
Everton head into the Sky Sports' Sunday Sunday clash with their city rivals on the back of Monday's battling 3-2 win over West Brom which saw them fight back from two goals behind.
Romelu Lukaku's double and Arouna Kone's strike lifted Martinez's side into fifth spot in the Premier League table above ninth-place Liverpool.
They have beaten champions Chelsea at Goodison Park this season and are unbeaten in six games in all competitions, having only lost to Manchester City, but after their Hawthorns heroics Martinez insisted it will count for nothing on Sunday.
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"Our performance against Chelsea set the standards of what we want to achieve at home but as you can imagine the derby is completely different, it doesn't matter if you go into it with momentum or not," said Martinez.
"The derby in itself brings that extra emotion and extra meaning to the game. We're happy we won but not because it's going to give us momentum into the derby, we're happy because when you are the last game in the week it's a real opportunity to show that in the table. Those three points were extra significant to us."
Martinez refused to condemn James McCarthy after the midfielder was booked for diving in the area in the second half.
McCarthy had burst into the box and went down with Craig Gardner closing in but replays showed there was no contact.
"In that situation James is trying his best to get into a goal-scoring position and maybe he was expecting contact," said Martinez. "I don't encourage my players to do that but sometimes mistakes happen as a player.
"The referee saw it and he handled it very well. Sometimes you are expecting something and you gamble and it happens. I don't give it any more importance than that."
