Moyes has confidence in O'Brien to fill the gap at the heart of Everton's defence

DAVID MOYES believes Jake O'Brien can move back into the heart of Everton's defence if required.

- By CHRIS BEESLEY

And the Blues boss has hailed Iliman Ndiaye for easing the burden on his team's goal-shy strikers.

With Jarrad Branthwaite - who hasn't played all season - now facing a prolonged period on the sidelines after undergoing an operation on a hamstring injury this week, there has been talk among the Blues fanbase of the prospect of O'Brien, who has mostly been playing at right-back since Moyes brought him into the side, moving back into his natural centre-back position.

Asked in his pre-match press conference to preview Everton's home game with Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow whether the Republic of Ireland international could revert to centre-back, Moyes said: “Yes, absolutely.

“We gave him a run at centre-back at the end of last season.

“He's had a couple of games and he did very well. He is a centre-back, but he is doing a very good job for us at right-back in the main, he needs to keep his levels up, like we all do.”

Like midfielder James Garner, who has also operated as an auxiliary fullback when required this term, Moyes appreciates O'Brien's ability to be deployed in different areas.

He said: “I think versatility is a big part of football now. A lot of players are playing in different positions.

“I'm calling Jake a young centre-back and he's maybe not that young now but to be a young centre-back quite often you have to make your debut and get started as a fullback - I certainly did as a player as well.

“But I think that's part of it. As it is, I think having Jarrad and Tarky (James Tarkowski) here is hard to nudge away and Keano's (Michael Keane) played very well in the games.

“So, he'll need to keep fighting for his own position where he's playing at the moment but if we've got any problems at centre-back, we know we've got him.”