Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi has admitted his enjoyment of playing football has returned following the arrival of Sean Dyche at Goodison Park.
The 51-year-old former Burnley boss succeeded Frank Lampard last month after a run of just one win in nine Premier League games left the Blues in the relegation zone. However, in their first outing under Dyche, the Blues recorded a stunning win over league leaders Arsenal thanks to a header from James Tarkowski midway through the second half at Goodison Park on February 4.
For Iwobi, who joined the Blues in the summer of 2019, he's enjoying his football as much as he ever has at Goodison Park.
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“Of course it has been tough for the past three years – it wasn't a great start when I signed – but I'm probably the happiest I've been for a while,” said the midfielder, speaking to Press Association. “I am consistently playing a lot of football and especially at Everton, it's a very good club with a lot of history in the Premier League.
"I am happy, I just hopefully can maintain that and keep going.”
Dyche has already made several changes to the Everton dressing room and training culture - including banning snoods and hats while insisting every player wears shin pads for Finch Farm sessions.
Reacting to the new regime, Iwobi said: “I love a snood, I cannot lie, I love a snood. And I love doing this with my hands (pulling his shirt sleeves over hands). I do it as a comfort thing but he says, ‘hands out of sleeves'. You have to change really quick otherwise he is on to you.”
The Blues will make the short trip across Stanley Park and to Anfield on Monday evening to contest the 242nd Merseyside derby against city neighbours Liverpool, and Iwobi believes he and the rest of his team-mates will need to approach the fixture with the same 'selfless' mentality as they did against his former club last weekend.
“Everyone has to do a lot of selfless work for the team. It's something we have tapped into and we were able to get a result against Arsenal," added Iwobi. “They were our best running stats of the season and we have set a standard that we have to continue to meet.
“Maybe it is a shift in mindset. Now we know we can do it, we should have been able to do it before."
He added: “Even though Liverpool aren't doing too well at the moment and neither are we so it's another game that if we make a statement there we can push on again."
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