Club captain’s return has influenced Everton’s results

Everton club captain Phil Jagielka has started both of the Toffees’ last two games, and both have ended up as wins. Since his return from a minor injury, the Blues got a 2-0 victory over Huddersfield and followed it up this last weekend with a 2-1 result at Stoke City, only the Blues’ second away win of the season.

Even before he went out with an unnamed injury, the Blues had beaten Leicester City and having Jagielka in the backline has been a better situation for Everton than Ashley Williams’ last few chaotic performances. The Wales captain was sent off in his last game for the Toffees, a 2-1 away loss at Burnley that was damning after Everton had even taken a first half lead.

Jagielka has started in a total of 16 Premier League games this season, with the Blues winning five times, drawing four games and losing seven in those appearances.

Speaking to evertonfc.com after the win over the Potters, the captain said -

“We’re on 40 points now and we want to see how many we can get. It’s up to us now to make sure we don’t let the rest of the season fizzle out. We want to pick up some vital wins, which helps us build for next season.

”People have to put down their name in the squad for next season and these last seven games can go a long way for that.

“Sometimes talk is cheap and sometimes it gets everyone on the same page. This week, all of us agreed with the principles that we needed to stick by. Looking at clips made us realise that we we’re not a million miles away [from getting it right away from home].”

Striker Cenk Tosun delivered the three points on Saturday, and Jagielka has been very impressed by the forward.

“He’s a striker who can finish with both feet and his head. We just need to make sure we keep giving him good service. We’ve put in some decent crosses and he was on the spot for the goals. He’s settling in nicely.

“He’s always been confident in his own ability and is a good lad to have around. He had to bide his time when he first came in which probably helped him.

”He’s got used to the pace of training and matches and his goals have come recently. When it comes to the start of next season we’ll all be more aware of each other and he can kick on from there.”