Roberto Martinez plays down early thoughts of FA Cup victory

Winning a first trophy since 1995 may go some way to appeasing those supporters but Martinez, who takes his side to Bournemouth for an FA Cup fifth-round tie on Saturday, has made it clear where his priority lies. We need to be a little more focused, but we are very close to reaching our aim in the league.

Asked if the cup could be the club’s salvation, he said: “No, not at all”.

“What we want to do is qualify for a European position”.

“The team is mentally ready”.

“I think defensively, you look at the performance against West Brom and it’s exactly what we expected”.

Howe said: “We would love to progress, I think I have said that before every round so that is still the same”.

Bournemouth will head into the FA Cup tie against Everton on the back of a 3-1 defeat to Stoke City at the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League.

Frustration has mounted that, in a season that has seen the usual suspects struggle, the Toffees have not been able to take advantage in the way that the likes of Leicester, Southampton and West Ham have. We were seeing a team dominating and creating chances and not being able to find the back of the net. “But I understand the reaction from the crowd”. “Helpful there is experience, so the level of concern we have is then not that big because they know how to handle that situation”.

“Unfortunately for us the last time that we had him it had a massive bearing on the game and he affected the outcome and the outcome of getting to Wembley. We respect the FA Cup, but there is still a long way to go before we can think about winning it. It is only the fifth round now”, Martinez said in his pre-match media conference.

Everton will be hoping Romelu Lukaku can add to his goal tally for the season which already stands at 20, however he is yet to score in this year’s FA cup.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez believes John Stones has benefited from taking a break from football due to the hamstring injury he picked up in January 2015.

Martinez refused to comment on reports linking Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic with an £8million summer switch to Goodison Park.