Seamus Coleman has warned that Everton must be on their guard for Sunderland’s visit this weekend.
Both sides will face off at Goodison Park fresh from taking mid-season breaks in their schedules due to early elimination from the FA Cup.
Ronald Koeman’s side travelled to Dubai for a period of warm-weather training while former Blues boss David Moyes took his squad to New York City.
Everton are currently enjoying an eight-game unbeaten streak in the Premier League since December’s late Merseyside derby defeat to Liverpool.
But Coleman is wary of Sunderland’s scrap for survival on the back of his side’s difficult stalemate with fellow North East strugglers Middlesbrough.
“If you look too far ahead at a run of games and try to imagine where you could be in the table, you take your eye off the ball and you’ll get punished for that,” he told evertonfc.com.
“We’re focused on Sunderland. We know they’ll be fighting for their lives, especially after the result they had last time out and we need to be ready for them.
“We would have liked to go into the break with a win, but it was important we didn’t lose.
“We have worked hard in Dubai and we’ll continue to prepare for the next game this week.”