Everton boss David Moyes has hailed the impact striker Nikica Jelavic has had on his side to help the Toffees finish the season strongly.
Boss feels striker has given players renewed belief
Everton boss David Moyes has hailed the impact striker Nikica Jelavic has had on his side to help the Toffees finish the season strongly.
The £5.5million January signing has scored seven times in his last six matches, with his double in the 4-4 draw at Old Trafford last weekend making it five in three appearances.
He has given the Toffees a much-needed cutting edge which was distinctly lacking in the early part of the season when they dominated games but failed to take opportunities.
But they are averaging over two goals a game in the last half-dozen fixtures and scoring four against Manchester United shows what difference a threat up front can make.
Form
"At the moment his form has been excellent and he has exceeded expectations," said Moyes of the former Rangers forward.
"He has finished moves off and made us look clinical in the box.
"In the early part of the season it looked like we would have to score a brilliant goal.
"Now if we get the ball in the box he will be on the end of a lot of things, whether it be with his head like last week or some of the finishes with his feet recently."
Moyes admits he has not yet worked out the ideal way to get the best use out of the 26-year-old but is more than happy with the striker's goal tally.
"I wasn't sure how quickly he would settle," added the Scot. "I wasn't totally sure how he would fit in and when I brought him in I thought we would start to rebuild bits of the team.
"I am sure we are still looking to see what is the best type of player to play with Jelavic and how we can mould that for the years to come.
"But he came along when we were on a high. We had just beaten Manchester City, the team had just started to grow in confidence and we had also got in Steven Pienaar, in addition to Darron Gibson and Landon Donovan before that.
Settled
"There were signs we were doing better but his goals have put the icing on it.
"He can link the play up, he gets hold of the ball for us as well and has settled in really quickly with the boys.
"They have made him feel really welcome and I think that has helped him."
