Mikel Arteta insists his Everton teammates won't catch him ever moping.

Before yesterday's morale-boosting draw with Manchester United, the Spaniard told evertonfc.com: "We have been players here for a long time. Imagine if Fellaini comes in or Castillo and I have a long face, saying 'this is s--t... it is going to be a long season... we are out of Europe'. That is going to be a bad influence for them.

"If I go to a new team and see the senior players acting like that, it doesn't make a lot of sense. My attitude is to try and help the situation rather than look elsewhere.

"Maybe we are not playing the style of football that I like, but my attitude is I have to try and do this for the team.

"I know we are never going to be a passing team with like 500 passes every game. That is not the style of Everton for the last 20 or 30 years. I know that.

"I have improved in other areas because of this. I would like to play more football sometimes - not just me, the fans would like us to do that."