Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard says Roberto Martinez's positive message has been key to his success this season.

Martinez is a firm believer in the power of positive thinking and Everton goalkeeper Howard, who was a stalwart of the David Moyes era, believes the fresh approach that has been introduced can help Everton achieve a return to Europe for the first time in five years.

"We work on ourselves and that is a difference," said Howard. "He will have some specific areas in which he thinks Tottenham are weak or Crystal Palace are weak and we will train on trying to exploit them.

"That is what our training sessions will be about as opposed to, "here is what they are going to do to hurt us" and "this is what we are going to do to defend against them". That is not in the manager's nature. The way his mind works, he always sees holes in the other team the way he operates.

"He doesn't see the danger he sees the weakness and he always gets us working on that. Preparations during the week, no matter what game you go into, the focus has not at any point in time this season been on the other team.

"On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, it has always been about us. When you are professional and you have to do this 40 weeks out of the year it is nice thing to not have to come into work every day thinking, 'Oh, that's looming ahead.'"