Marco Silva hopeful Everton can take confidence into Merseyside derby after 3-0 win at Cardiff
Tuesday 26 February 2019 23:28, UK
Marco Silva thinks Everton have got their belief back from an impressive 3-0 win at Cardiff - and wants them to take it into this Sunday's Merseyside derby.
The Toffees had won only one of their last six coming into the game in south Wales and showed signs of nerves before Gylfi Sigurdsson slotted them into a 41st-minute lead.
Once he doubled their advantage just after the hour mark, Silva's men looked a different side and the manager was delighted with the timing of their improvement ahead of this weekend's showdown with Liverpool at Goodison Park, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 4pm.
He told Sky Sports: "I'm really happy with the win, it was an important three points for us, and in some moments after our second goal I saw the players playing with more freedom and confidence. At that point you can see the type of football we can play.
"Sunday is an important game for us, the fans, the opponent too, but it will be just three points. We know how we lost the first match and deserved something more, but we hope we can manage it at home with the support of our fans, the players enjoying their football and I hope it will be a good game which we can win."
Silva felt the performance of his players was such that they dominated the entire match - and given Everton's league-worst record of conceding from set plays, was pleased with the way his side defended against the physical test of Cardiff.
He said: "We deserved three points, we were in command of the whole match, we knew they were strong from set pieces, long throws and winning the second ball, but we did well. In the first minute they had a moment but after that we controlled the match."
