Pre Toffees: Hughton hails Everton

Having kept faith in David Moyles despite some iffy spells in charge of the Toffees, Chris Hughton has hailed the Goodison management as giving the Blue side from Merseyside the sort of stability NUFC needs. Speaking ahead of the game, he said:

"Stability has been their real strength. They have a group of players that have pulled together. One thing that shows the character of their side is that Everton have been a very good away team. There were parts of their season during which they struggled at home, but what they did was manage to pick up points away from home.

I think you can always learn from what you see as a good situation. And I think that what we are seeing from Everton has come from stability. What has come from that stability has been seen in many of the last few seasons, not just this season.

Spirits have been high, and it has been a really good week in training. It usually is on the back of a good performance and a win, especially away from home. It was another weekend in which results went for us as well. The break because of the FA Cup has given us some more thinking time as well.

The players have had a little extra time to enjoy the victory as well. But most importantly it has given us extra time to prepare things. It`s a massive challenge for us as they are on a very good run and are a very good side. They are all pulling in the right direction.

We talk about adversity and coping with injuries and losing players - they are one team that can cope with it very well. I had the chance to see them on Sunday against Villa. They played very well, even though they are without a number of key players."

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