David Moyes has revealed the reasons for Everton’s Abu Dhabi trip.
With a ten-day break between matches, Moyes took his side to the United Arab Emirates shortly after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw away to Brentford.
Since returning to the hot seat, the Scot has overseen a seven-game unbeaten run that saw the Blues open a 15-point gap to the relegation zone.
And Moyes admits that his motivation for the warm weather training camp was two-fold as they prepare for another pivotal period on the season run-in.
He said: “Team spirit is hugely important.
“Over the years I’ve always encouraged team spirit. We need players who are going to look after each other, fight for each other.
“I need them to get to understand me a little bit and how we work. We can be tough when the work’s getting done but obviously then there’s another side to us as well when we’re not.
“Also the players have had a tough year where we’re into the last third of the season now.
“To be fair to all the players, probably they’ve found it really difficult not just maybe over the last six months but maybe over the last couple of years.
“So it’s a little bit of a chance for them to have some leisure time as well which is good for them.”
Reflecting on his opening weeks back at the helm, Moyes hailed Everton’s supporting cast for stepping up during their unprecedented injury crisis.
The club’s casualty list has swelled with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iliman Ndiaye among six players currently sidelined over recent weeks.
“The players who’ve maybe not had much playing time, I think they’ve come in and done so well,” Moyes told Everton TV.
“Look, sometimes in football that happens and you need to be given opportunities to show what you can do.
“But obviously when I saw the injuries and what we picked up – we lost (Orel) Mangala and Dominic right away – and already with the likes of Dwight (McNeil) and (Armando) Broja being out, it didn’t look good, to be honest.
“It looked as if we were going to be struggling but I’ve got to say the players who’ve come in have done great. There’s signs that we’re getting people back [from injury].
“I’ll say another thing: quite often that once a team’s winning you start to get the players back, people want to be involved with winning teams more than losing teams.
“So hopefully we can get some of these boys back and help us keep winning.”
Meanwhile Everton have seen three of their fixtures in April amended as part of the Premier League’s latest round of broadcasting changes on Friday.
Arsenal’s visit to Goodison Park on April 5 will now take kick off at 12.30pm on the same day that Aintree hosts the finale of this year’s Grand National.
A trip to Chelsea on April 26 will also be brought forward to the lunchtime timeslot with both games being broadcast live in the UK by TNT Sports.
Elsewhere, Moyes’ side will appear before the cameras in their return meeting with Liverpool on April 2, with Sky Sports showing the unchanged 8pm start.