Everton have turned the corner- Jagielka

Key defender Phil Jagielka hopes the recent run of clean sheets and victories means Everton have turned a corner.

It has taken a while but Everton's defence seems to have rediscovered their mean streak with two consecutive clean sheets after going 17 games without one and Jagielka is hoping they have put their poor run behind them and can start looking up.

He told the Post: "Hopefully we've turned a corner. We knew it wasn't going to be that far away, it was just a case of eradicating those little mistakes that ended up being big mistakes.

"We've also had a little bit of luck - especially on Saturday when Fulham hit the bar and the post - I think we're getting there and we can keep a lot more clean sheets throughout the rest of the season.

"We were looking at how teams like Newcastle, Tottenham and Stoke were getting on.

"It was early doors but we still didn't want to be down there.

"Now we're looking at the likes of Villa, Hull who have made a fantastic start and we're even close to Manchester United and Arsenal.

"But we know that if we don't get the result we need on Saturday we could be back in the bottom half of the league - that's just the way it is at the moment."