Martinez not daunted by trip to Anfield

Posted Thursday, April 21, 2016 by Foxsports.com

Ahead of Thursday night's Merseyside derby at Anfield, Everton boss Roberto Martinez says his team has little fear about playing away from home.

The Spainiard used Borussia Dortmund's recent capitulation at Anfield as an example of what teams need to bear in mind when playing important matches away from home.

"They were two minutes away from being disqualified from Europe," Martinez said of his Merseyside rivals. "Those are the fine margins, a set-piece and a really strong momentum that was developed after scoring the equaliser, of course, that is something you have to be aware of when we go to an away ground that's part of our thinking and the way we need to be coping with the environment that we are going to play our football.

"But in the same we know what we have to do, what we're good at and that's the only thing that matters: how good we can be in what we do.

"We know that the last two weeks, they have been full of football, five games in that period and we have been coping with very solid performances and a lot of responsibility and we are ready to kick-on in the final five games in the league," he said at tonight's pre-match press conference.

Indeed, his side can take a lot of confidence from their form away from Goodison Park this Premiership season; only five teams have scored more league points than them.

"Our away form has been fantastic," Martinez said. "It has been Champions League form, and that is what we want to carry on."

"We have got three games away from home. One is Liverpool, the other one is Leicester in, as you can imagine, a very significant game and then the other is Sunderland which is very significant for other reasons.

"Those are the games we want to be involved in and we want to be tested until the end.

"The Merseyside derby is a derby that has got an extra significance and we are all aware that we are playing for the bragging rights, playing for the pride of our fans and that is something we look forward to doing.

"And yes, Liverpool are in a very good moment of form and in the last two weeks have developed a momentum we will have to be aware of but, in the same way, the experience that we had last season where we never gave up, showed an incredible character and to get the equaliser so late in the game in such a stylish fashion gave us the belief we could go anywhere in the league and be ourselves.

"That is what we want to do."