Goodison fortress, fans crucial as Man United come to town

Facing Manchester United is always a big challenge but we go into our match with them on Sunday encouraged by our recent form at Goodison Park.

In our previous two games at Goodison we have defeated Chelsea and Arsenal so we know we are more than capable of competing with the best teams in the Premier League.

That performance against the Gunners two weeks ago, when we won 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Phil Jagielka, was arguably one of our best this season and it’s important we return to the standards we set for ourselves that day in the remaining weeks of the season.

The Premier League is fiercely competitive and if you drop your standards then you will get punished, as we found to our cost last weekend at Fulham when we lost 2-0.

However, that game has gone now and it’s important we remember how well we have been playing at Goodison, where we have been pushed on by our fans who have created an electric atmosphere.

Achieving seven points from three tough matches against Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, without conceding a goal in any of those games, is a run we are all pleased with and that must be the benchmark we aspire to for the rest of the season.

I was interviewed this week and asked about my position at the top of the Premier League tackling charts this season. Yes, tackling is a big part of my game but I don’t think about those statistics when I play.

I am just focused on doing my best on the pitch to help my team because that is always the most important thing for me.

You can hear the Everton fans cheer and shout when I make an important tackle or challenge.

After matches, they will sometimes talk to me and say, “we love you because you are a hard worker and you are always tackling everywhere”. Of course, it’s very nice to hear that from our fans and it spurs me on!

Earlier this week, I was happy to be part of an event we host every year at our training ground called Academy Day. It’s an afternoon when children in the club’s junior teams, from the players in the Under-6s through to the Under-11s, are invited to train and play with the first-team squad.

This was the third Academy Day that I have been involved in during my time with Everton and it is always a day I look forward to every year.

It is fantastic to see just how much these young players enjoy meeting their heroes and it is an experience they will never forget.

Everton has a famous tradition of producing players from their Academy, players like Tom Davies and Jonjoe Kenny who are now established as part of the senior squad.

They will have experienced Academy Day when they were younger, so hopefully some of the children we met this week will be inspired to follow in their footsteps!

At Finch Farm, we’ve also continued our preparations for playing against Manchester United and we will all be ready for what will no doubt be a tough match.

Like ourselves, United are fighting to finish as high as they can in the league.

We still have the opportunity to finish seventh in the table and that could mean qualification for the Europa League, so there is still so much to play for as we go into these last four matches, with fixtures against Crystal Palace, Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur to follow after this weekend.

Idrissa Gana Gueye is a defensive midfielder for Everton FC.