JAMES McCARTHY believes no side left in the Europa League will fancy coming to Goodison Park in the last 16.Everton secured their passage into the next round with a 7-2 aggregate victory over Young Boys.
Leading 4-1 from last week’s first leg in Berne, the Blues saw off the Swiss side 3-1 at Goodison Park last night with two from Romelu Lukaku and one from Kevin Mirallas.
Everton will learn their opponents during Friday’s draw in Nyon and though McCarthy expects a stern test in the next phase of the competition he knows few sides will relish facing them after their latest stylish display.
“It’s a big achievement for each and every one of the lads and the club,” McCarthy said of making it to the last 16.
“It’s a big bonus for us and now we look forward to the weekend.
“There are a lot of big teams in it and we’re looking forward to seeing the draw tomorrow.
“Every draw you are going to get now is going to be a tough game and if you want to go on and achieve things in this competition then you need to go and beat the big teams.
“But we want to turn this place into a fortress - in the League and Europe - because we’ve not won as many games as we did last season. A lot of European teams won’t like coming here with the way the fans are, the atmosphere and the way the night games are especially, it is brilliant.
“The atmosphere was really good tonight,” he added.
“The fans got really behind us. We conceded quite early and wanted to put things right. Thankfully we got the early goal and so didn’t have to wait too long to get level.
“The fans got behind us and there was a real buzz about the place.”
McCarthy will be watching tomorrow’s draw with anticipation but was quick to turn the focus onto Sunday’s Premier League trip to Arsenal. The Gunners fell to a 3-1 Champions League defeat on Wednesday night to Monaco and the Blues midfielder says Everton must brace themselves for a backlash.
“They will come at us. ,” McCarthy said.“It’s a big game for them and they want to get back to winning ways but so do we in the league.
“It is a big game for us as well and we want to go there and take maximum points.
“It won’t be easy, they’ll come at us especially after their disappointing result on Wednesday night but we’re going there with our confidence high. We need to get back to winning ways, it’s been a difficult league campaign but now we need to put things right.”
By Phil Kirkbride, Echo
