'Let's keep cool,' says Stubbs

Everton skipper Alan Stubbs wants the Merseyside club’s fans to keep calm as the race for Europe reaches the crucial final matches.

Stubbs, a substitute last weekend at the tense 1-0 home defeat by Blackburn, admits that while sitting on the bench he could sense the tension amongst fans as a critical victory was lost.

And he knows that by the time Everton play their next match – the 201st Mersey derby at Liverpool a week on Sunday – the gap between themselves and the Anfield men could be down to just five points.

Liverpool have to win their game in hand on Wednesday at home to Blackburn to reduce that gap to five, and that would turn the usually tension-packed derby into a potential decider for fourth place.

Stubbs told the club’s official website, www.evertonFC.com: “There are going to be a few nerves and a bit of tension now and I thought there was a bit of tension in the crowd last weekend.

“There were maybe one or two passes going astray and you could feel the tension there straight away.

“Obviously, I probably felt it even more because I was on the bench and I could hear it and feel it.

“But it is not going to help the players.

“It is a collective thing at this time of the season.

“The fans need to do what they have been doing all season but try to be a little bit more relaxed – tension does creep through.

“It works both ways, we have to play our part by sometimes giving the fans something to get them going but if they can see that it is not going the way it should be then they have a part to play as well by getting right behind us and giving us a gee up.

“The more they feel it, sometimes it can have an adverse affect on the pitch too.

“It is coming to a crunch stage now and we just need to do what we have been doing all season – stick together and keep going – it is as simple as that.”

For boss David Moyes, the derby match comes along a few days after he completes his third anniversary as Everton chief.

He has been told he will have spending power in the summer with some level of European competition almost certain, while being aware that seven of the current squad could leave on free transfers at the end of the season when their contracts expire.

But Moyes, not surprisingly, claims the past few months have been his most rewarding since taking over.

He said: “The last nine months have been the most satisfying.

“As for this season, we still have nine games to go and that is a lot of football.

“You get no prizes in March and now is not the time to be making judgements, I will rate this season when it is over.”