Koeman: Owner support not changed

Ronald Koeman insists he retains the support of the clubs board and is confident Everton can get a positive result against Arsenal on Sunday.

Earlier in the month, majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri released a statement pledging total support for the manager, support Ronald Koeman insists he still retains.

Koeman said: “Yeah, that’s not changed [When asked about support from the owners]. Of course we have daily and weekly contact, I know everybody is a little bit worried about the situation but that’s normal.

“It’s not time to stop and talk about reasons why [we haven’t lived up to expectation]. We need to take the situation how it is now and prepare the team for Sunday.

“The position we are in the league is not the position Everton needs to stay and that’s what we need to change.

“I still believe in the players and the signings we did in the summer because maybe everybody can have some doubts about several of the signings. The future will show that the signings we made were in fact good signings.

“If you look back to last season, we had some great games against some of the big teams in the Premier League. And why not against Arsenal?

“Arsenal is not unbeatable, it’s also not the strongest team away from home this season.

“We know we need to improve, we need to play better but I think if we bring the fight and the aggression on the pitch, in a good way, then we have a good chance to win the game.

“They rested ten players, who will start maybe on Sunday. We took the decision to give some rest to players for Sunday and I think it’s a great game to play.”