Everton boss David Moyes was swift to praise Mikel Arteta after he orchestrated the 7-1 demolition of Sunderland.
Everton boss sings praises of Spanish midfielder
Everton boss David Moyes was swift to praise Mikel Arteta after he orchestrated the 7-1 demolition of Sunderland.
The Spaniard put in an outstanding display as The Toffees crushed their hapless visitors.
Although he did not get on the scoresheet himself, Arteta pulled the strings as his team-mates ran riot - much to the delight of the watching Moyes.
"Arteta's first 45 minutes was nothing short of magical," said the Everton manager.
"The opportunities he created were fantastic and it was hard to believe he was coming back from injury. On his day he's as good as anybody."
Moyes believes the display gives an indication of what his team are capable of.
Fantastic
"Some of our play was fantastic - I've been wanting to get Everton to play that way more often," he enthused.
"To score seven goals is a fantastic achievement in the Premier League. Sunderland have conceded very few goals up until this point so I have to give credit to my team."
Moyes can now see a number of his key players returning to fitness. Tim Cahill was on the mark twice while Andy Johnson got on the scoresheet as he made his comeback from injury.
"Andy coming back will be a real plus for us. We've got four strikers firing now which is essential with all the games we've got coming up," said the Everton boss.
"If you want to be a big club you want to be in all the competitions. All we want to do is hang in in all of them but we want our Premier League position to be as good as possible."
