Demarai Gray explains Everton dressing room view that…

Demarai Gray explains Everton dressing room view that players 'owe' the fans

Demarai Gray hailed Everton’s travelling support and declared “we owe them these type of performances” after the battling draw at Chelsea.

Almost 3,000 Blues made the journey down to west London on Saturday. They were left celebrating at the final whistle after a late Ellis Simms goal secured a point that could be vital to Everton’s hopes of staying in the Premier League.

It was a second consecutive point on the road and another hint the fans who travel in such vast numbers could buy into the Sean Dyche-led survival project.

Gray initially appeared to be one of the Everton players set to lose out by the appointment of Dyche. Arguably the club’s best player after the World Cup break, he found himself left out of his new manager’s starting line-up for the first games of his tenure. He did not begin a game until the trip to Nottingham Forest, Dyche’s sixth game in charge. But Gray scored in that match and looked a threat throughout. He has retained his place since then and been unlucky not to have at least another goal after a contentious VAR call against Brentford.

Referring to the sold out away end at Chelsea on Saturday, he spoke of the boost they gave to his teammates. Gray said: "The fans travel with us everywhere. They travel long distances and make noise for us until the end. We have to give them a lot of credit and we owe them these type of performances. Me, leading the line, I want to work and show them that commitment. I'm grateful for them. It's a collective - staff, players and fans and, maybe even more so when times aren't good, it's about sticking together and we're doing that."

Opportunities were limited for Gray against Chelsea but he was a constant nuisance and hustled the home side’s cente-backs. Of the game, he said: "I'm enjoying it. For me, it's just about being on the pitch, trying to help the boys and contribute where I can. It was a bit different today playing against a back three who were big guys but I did my best.

"I always try to contribute with goals and assists but it's about working hard wherever I'm asked to play, whatever role I'm given, I'm going to give 100%."

Gray, who pointed to a “character shift” under Dyche, believes the point at Chelsea was the latest example of the progress being made, He added: "It gives us a lot of confidence. I think we've shown our mentality over the past few games. The 1-0 against Brentford, we had our backs to the wall for a lot of that second half but rode it out and got the win... over the past few weeks I think there have been a lot of improvements. There is still a lot of work to be done but we want to build a foundation and I think we're getting that. Then it's about working on other little details that will make us an even better team.

"Our reaction [against Chelsea] shows the character shift and mentality change - and I think as long as that continues we'll be a problem for any team."

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