Sam Allardyce says his Everton side need to start performing away from home as well as they do at Goodison Park.
The Blues travel to face Stoke City on Saturday, still looking for their first win on the road since December.
Allardyce’s side have been fine at home since he took over, only losing once but they’ve thrown away winning positions on their travels as they look to finally get out of their travelling slump.
Speaking ahead of the game, Allardyce said: “For everybody now it’s about producing the level of performance away that they’ve shown at home. That's been our problem, the players haven’t hit that peak performance that they have done when they’ve played at home.
"When we’ve been in a position to get a result in the last two away games, we’ve slipped up and ended up with no points at all and that’s really disappointing - not just for us - but for all the Everton fans who travel away from home.
“They’re there in numbers, they sell their ticket allocation out, and we want to make them as happy when they’re travelling back as we made the fans at home when we beat Brighton.”
Looking at Stoke
Paul Lambert took over at the Bet365 Stadium in the middle of January, tasked with the difficult proposition of keeping Stoke City in the Premier League.
Despite his side still being in the bottom three, the 48-year-old Scotsman has his side within three points of climbing out of the danger zone.
When asked about the job Lambert is doing with the Potters, the Everton boss said: “He’s made them very difficult to beat now. I think that, like us all, the basis of winning football matches is being hard to break down.
“For us, we looked at the fact that we slipped by not achieving as many clean sheets as we should have done. He’s working on the same lines and then in possession, they’re trying to use the new players they’ve brought in to be a bit more creative.”
Xherdan Shaqiri, as always, will be the man Everton have to keep quiet if they want to beat the Potters on Saturday.
“He’s the key player from the assists and the goals that he scores,” Allardyce stated.
“I think we need to keep a close watch on him on Saturday and try to keep him as quiet as possible. He’s one of their key men to try and mark out the game, if we can.”
Summer focus
As ever, plenty of names have been mentioned in regards to summer transfers - both in and out - of Goodison Park.
In recent days, the Blues have been linked for a move for Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere when his contract expires in the summer.
When quizzed about a possible move for the midfielder, the Everton boss answered: “Next season is next season, our main aim is to have right discussions at right period of time when we can.
“I think that when you’re living with a squad of 38 professionals, then we know adding more players can only come about when releasing some - and moving some on."
“I think the balance of ins and outs in the summer will be determined on who and what we bring in,” Allardyce added.