Martinez eyeing strong run-in for Everton

The Merseysiders moved up to fourth in the top flight on Saturday courtesy of a comfortable 2-0 victory over Norwich City at Goodison Park.

The day was made even better for Everton fans with Aiden McGeady's signing from Spartak Moscow - the winger paraded on the pitch ahead of his new team-mates' outing.

Martinez has history of finishing campaigns strongly, leading Wigan Athletic to unlikely Premier League survival in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

And that experience could put the Spaniard in good stead as Everton eye a first top-four finish since 2005.

When asked at which point he would begin to take the table seriously, Martinez explained: "The last nine games.

"In the league, I like to work towards the final third of the season.

"When you go into the last nine games of the campaign, that is when you get that extra significance from every point depending on where you are in the table and whether the other results affect your position.

"At the moment we're still trying to get as many points as we can and we're working towards that tally.

"Remember the last four games of the season at home - they are against the teams that we are fighting at the moment so we try just to get better and better.

"I thought some of the play we had was electrifying and really very good.

"We need to keep on improving and hope we can get into that final nine games of the season as strong as we can be."