Everton FC manager David Moyes hails Marouane Fellaini's return to fitness
DAVID MOYES is confident Marouane Fellaini has overcome his summer illness and is champing at the bit for the start of Everton's Premier League campaign.
Moyes revealed last week that Fellaini had suffered a virus that resulted in the loss of a significant amount of weight.
The player has slowly began putting on the pounds and building up his strength throughout the pre-season campaign.
And Fellaini's fine performance in the 2-1 win over Malaga on Friday was enough to persuade Moyes the midfielder is ready for the off against Arsenal on Saturday evening at Goodison.
"It's taken him the best part of five weeks to get to the required level and we hope that he is now going to stay up there," said the Goodison manager.
"I think the first few weeks of this season might be harder for him than he found it last year and it may take him time to find his stride.
"But I also don't think it will be a great surprise if we see great improvement from him, as he showed last season how big a contribution he can make.
"I thought against Malaga was the best he played in pre-season and you could see after the game that he felt good about himself."
Moyes also believes Fellaini has come to terms with life in the Premier League after a tricky first six months following his club record ã15million move from Standard Liege.
"There were times last season when he knew he was not up to speed and it came during the heavy period we had in January and February," he added.
"But by the end of the season when the games were really important, he helped us and made a contribution with his goals and performances.
"The Premier League is a long old haul and there will be different periods when players are in form or when they are struggling.
"The good thing about Felli is that he is someone who responds to criticism and you can see that he wants to learn all the time. He is a player who works and wants to improve."
Fellaini was on the losing side last night for Belgium as they slipped to a 3-1 friendly defeat to the Czech Republic. Steven Pienaar's South Africa also went down to Serbia by the same scoreline.
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