Sean Dyche has called on his Everton players to "stick to task” by maintaining recent high-performance levels - but reiterated it’s now time to act on those strong displays by securing warranted positive results.

The Blues return to Premier League action on Saturday as they take to the road to play Bournemouth (kick-off 3pm GMT). While the Toffees haven’t been able to covert some strong displays into victories in recent rounds, Dyche admitted he’s been satisfied with the level of the performances from the side but stated now is the time “to take action”.

Talking to the media in Thursday’s press conference, held at Finch Farm, the Everton boss said: “The moment of truth is different when it is on the training pitch, everyone knows that. Sticking to task, I think a lot of the performances have been right. A lot of the performance levels statistically have been right, we have spoken endlessly about it but the words have to stop at some point. 

“We have to take action and we have been very close to doing that. The freedom to miss, the freedom to score – that is the bit that is missing in a lot of our performances, the final moment. I think just reinforcing to the players the good work they are doing and reinforcing how important the final moments are of course. 

“But they know that, it is about going into these games with the right frame of mind. Performance wise we are. But, we have got to win games, that is the job, end of.”

With no game for three weeks, the squad and staff flew out to Portugal two weeks ago for a warm-weather training camp.

For Dyche, the days away from base were an opportunity for a different training backdrop and a chance for his squad to bond and revitalise ahead of a crucial final stretch of the campaign. 

“The challenge we had was the extended period due to the change in games, we used it as wisely as we could,” said Dyche reflecting on the trip. 

“Some have been away of course and we only got those lads back today. Some played more minutes than others, Seamus obviously, Myko had great news (Ukraine qualifying for EURO 2024). Amadou played the other night, he had 70-odd minutes and Patto played a couple as well. We are monitoring them, they did less today obviously because they have played so recently. 

"We have been bringing them back down, ready to train again tomorrow and ready for the Bournemouth game.’

Everton enjoyed a comprehensive 3-0 victory over the Cherries back in October, with goals from James Garner, Jack Harrison and Abdoulaye Doucoure sealing a fine display from Dyche’s men. At the time, Bournemouth were in the midst of a nine-game winless run, however, they’ve since found their feet under new boss Andoni Iraola who replaced Gary O’Neil in the summer. 

“They [Bournemouth] had that really tough start and then they came through a really strong spell of results, and then a quieter spell, and then popped up with another set of good results,” explained Dyche. 

“They have turned into a decent outfit; they have worked hard at their game. I think Bournemouth are being, rightly so, respected for the season they are having, with us being questioned. But you go well, if we didn’t have the points deducted we wouldn’t be getting questioned. 

“So there lies the change in a story. The facts are: it is still a tough game, it’s a Premier League game. We have to take it on wisely and be ready to perform."