Michael Ball looks to tackle the big issues at Goodison Park following Everton’s 4-0 win over Leicester City

I think it’s fair to say Everton’s players owe their supporters a result against Bournemouth, in fact they owe them a couple, so Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Goodison Park is a massive opportunity to build on the hat-trick of consecutive victories under David Moyes.

Anyone who comes to Goodison Park now knows that they will be in for a tough, physical battle. They will have to be on top of their game to try and get a result against Everton now.

Goodison will be packed again, and you can’t get tickets for these games. Let’s go for it in Goodison’s final season and play a strong side.

We know that Bournemouth are a top team themselves and have caused huge problems for some of the established powers this season. They were a bit unlucky on Saturday with the number of chances they created against Liverpool.

Therefore, we’ve got to remain switched on and maintain our standards. Moyes will be telling the players that it’s brilliant what they’ve been doing but he wants the standards to be increased week on week for the individual players to show they’ve got the consistency to stay at this football club for next season.

We’ll be hopeful with it being at Goodison but it’s a cup game and anything can happen. Fingers crossed we can go on a cup run but while it would be amazing to get back to Wembley, it’s just one step at a time right now and we can’t get ahead of ourselves.

It’s a huge opportunity for the players to not just book a place in the last-16 of the FA Cup, but stake their claim for a shirt in the Derby. It’s two huge games in a week for us but if you can rise to the occasion and have that confidence from winning matches, it gives you that extra buzz as a player and you can’t wait get out there again for the next one.

The togetherness within the squad seems fantastic. They look like they’re all united as a group and will relish having the Goodison faithful cheering them on again.

There are rumours that Everton could be re-signing Richarlison right at the end of the January transfer window.

Everton transfer news

It looks as though the Blues will complete the permanent signing of Carlos Alcaraz from Brazilian side Flamengo before deadline day reached its conclusion, with Fabrizio Romano taking to X to report the news.

“Everton are completing all details of Charly Alcaraz deal from Flamengo, it will get done tonight. €15m plus add-ons on loan with obligation to buy to be activated only in case of high number of starts.”