The Toffees won 2-0 to hand Nottingham Forest their third straight Premier League loss, leaving Moyes' side eight but just four points off Liverpool in fourth place.

After Tuesday's (30.12.25) game, Moyes said: "We want to keep pushing. We went to Chelsea two or three weeks ago knowing that if we could beat Chelsea we might have gone fourth or fifth.

"I've got a hope that maybe I get a chance somewhere in February or March so I get an opportunity to do that again.

"So the only way we can do that is by hanging in at the moment. But, you know, if we lose [at Forest] you could have been 15th, you win you could be fifth. So it's really difficult for everybody to weigh up the league.

"It's one of our best [results] because of what we had available."

Everton's Merseyside rivals Liverpool could extend the gap to seven points if they beat Leeds on New Year's Day.

Meanwhile, Forest are languishing in 17th, four points above the relegation zone.

Boss Sean Dyche said: "I came here thinking, 'go on then' after the Manchester City performance.

"You can talk about stats but there wasn't an edge in the performance.

"Three games ago people were saying we were brilliant, so that's how the storyline changes. We have got to change that the other way, and that's the biggest challenge.

"It is dealing with expectation as well. We have risen to the big games, then the ones where the expectation changes to being on us it is a case of can we go again?

"Can you step on again? A couple of times we haven't done that. Finding consistency, in everything you do, is the next step."