Ancelotti: Everton still not at the top, we have to keep working

Everton travel to Leicester City tomorrow as the festive portion of the calendar starts to kick in with the fixtures starting to come at a higher frequency. The Blues will be looking to parlay the win over Chelsea into another positive result at the King Power stadium tomorrow.

Speaking to the media in his pre-match press conference, Carlo Ancelotti was asked about the possibility that an unheralded side could win the Premier League title this season, much like Leicester did a few years ago.

“It’s the beauty of this sport. The results are unoredictable and it so happened that Leicester won the title. It’s more difficult now than 20 years ago due to the financial aspect.

“I am sure it will be an unpredictable season. Every game is really difficult, really complicated. The table is really compact and fortunately, Everton is there.”

Following the victory over Chelsea on Saturday, it appears the media narrative has focused more on the Stamford Bridge side losing the game than Everton winning it, did Ancelotti feel the Toffees have not gotten enough credit for the win?

“No. I think it made more rumours the defeat of Chelsea than the victory of Everton, this is quite normal. Chelsea is a fantastic team used to fighting for the top and it was a little bit of a surprise, but from our side we were really satisfied for the performance.

“As I said, we are still not at the same level as these teams. The fact that we competed with Tottenham and Liverpool, we had a good result with Chelsea, it’s important for us. We’re still not at the top, we have to keep working.”

Jamie Vardy is a unique threat in this sport, in that he can turn the game on it’s head with just a few touches, much like he did over the weekend during the Foxes win over Brighton.

“This is the quality of the striker. To score goals you don’t have to touch the ball a lot of times. Vardy is a great example of this, only needs one touch to score a goal. The more touches you have the more difficulties you have to score.

“I think Dominic Calvert-Lewin has started to understand this very well.”

In his return to the starting lineup Gylfi Sigurdsson had a very good game over the weekend, what did Ancelotti think about his performance and ability to consistently effect games in the same manner?

“He did really well, he supported the team defensively and offensively. His performance was good. He didn’t start a lot of games, but all the time he played he did well.

“I am satisfied, he can improve his level I think, but in this moment he is ok.

“Everyone knows that there is a lot of competition in the squad, this is normal because we have a lot of games in this period. I want to rotate more the players because the period is really busy.”

Yerry Mina also had a good game against Chelsea, with the manager pleased with how he played.

“I’m happy with his level, he is doing better. He had some problems in some games but now is more focused, more concentrated.

“He is playing with confidence, I am satsfied.”