EVERTON will rely on their Scottish striker Duncan Ferguson tonight to continue being a thorn in Manchester United's side.
Ferguson has scored against United in both of the previous two seasons, and new Everton captain Gary Speed believes he is their main weapon against the champions along with a rejuvenated Nicky Barmby.
Everton lost their opening game against Crystal Palace and were criticised for resorting to long, hopeful balls aimed at Ferguson.
But against West Ham at the weekend, Everton managed to come from behind to win 2-1.
Speed said: ''Barmby was brilliant against West Ham, he was all over the place and fed off a lot of what Duncan was creating.
''We have stopped just putting in nothing balls to Duncan. That was what was wrong with our display on the opening day of the season when we lost at home to Crystal Palace.
''The service to Duncan that day was poor. But against West Ham we got behind them a bit more and put some real quality crosses in and it paid off.
''We didn't just take the easy way out and pump in angled crosses from deep, we got into much better positions to cross the ball.
''Terry Phelan, in particular on the left, supplied some good crosses. He's very fit and can get up and down the line to great effect and supply a really good service into the box.''
He added: ''We now have much more confidence that we can score goals and win games. It may not have been the same feeling had we not fought back like that to overpower West Ham.''
Speed will be calling on his team-mates to show the same fighting spirit which won them the points against West Ham.
He said: ''Everyone will say the same thing, and Alex Ferguson would agree, that when you face United you lift your game because everyone wants to beat the best club in the world.
''They've been champions for four of the past five seasons, it's always a real battle when they come here, but the fact that we did so well, particu-larly in the second half against West Ham, and really got at them will give us real confidence to go out and do the same against United.''
Everton manager Howard Kendall hinted that young John Oster could start the game, after having come on as substitute against West Ham.
He said: ''Oster showed against West Ham he could go past defenders. That lifted the crowd and got us into a position to get good crosses into the box to take advantage of our strength in the air.''
Kendall also dampened specu- lation that a move for Fabrizio Ravanelli is back on after the deal broke down during the pre-season.
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