No time for Everton to feel down over Phil Jagielka

For the team, however, it's an agony they can cope with. In fact, it's what Everton do best.

At various points this season they have been without ...well, pretty much everybody. It seems no-one has escaped the injury curse.

Yet they have dealt with the adversity and on many occasions actually become stronger in the face of it.

In fact, one of their best performances of the season came juts days after an energy-sapping FA Cup semi-final victory when they held Chelsea to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge last week.

And Jagielka didn't even come on until the very end of that game.

A sure sign that Everton can manage even in the absence of their most influential player.

But what concerns me more about the final few weeks of the Premier League is the way Everton now approach their remaining fixtures.

David Moyes has to make sure that his players don't let their levels drop because they can't go into May 30 undercooked.

That means making sure you go in for every tackle instead of pulling out and worrying you will get injured.

It means looking at the likes of Dan Gosling coming on and scoring then making sure you up your game to keep your place in the team.

And it means keeping up the consistency and not thinking you've done the hard work by clinching your European qualification with four games to spare.

That might be difficult. Games like Saturday's against Manchester City are bound to crop up now and again, when things feel a bit flat and you can't quite raise your game to previous levels.

But Moyes has to get the message across to his players that there can't be any slacking towards the end of the season - because it ends with such a massive game

The manager can't worry about losing Jagielka because there is nothing he can do about that. His priority now has to be keeping up the intensity in his squad so they are primed for the FA Cup final.

Mark Lawrenson was talking to NICK SMITH