Frank Lampard has indicated that he is happy for Everton to head into many of their Premier League matches as underdogs.
While the Toffees have won just two of their nine fixtures this campaign, they surprised many by putting together a six-game unbeaten streak which lead to 10 points.
That run of matches ultimately came to an end last weekend as Manchester United overturned an early deficit to post a 2-1 victory at Goodison Park.
Although Everton now sit in 12th position and just four points above the relegation zone, it is perceived that they have made a surprisingly positive start to the campaign.
Seven months ago, Everton succumbed to a 5-0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur, and the corresponding fixture is scheduled to take place on Saturday evening.
Despite insisting that last season's capitulation in North London has no relevance to their upcoming tussle, Lampard has suggested that he is content with Everton to still be regarded as the clear outsiders.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, the Englishman said: "I remember the game well, it sticks in the mind. It's easy to casually look at the result but I know the detail behind it, the options we had on the day. I'm not belittling the team but we suffered from 20 mins onwards. Tottenham had a strong performance - it's a long time ago now, there's a lot of personnel changes and we've progressed. It's in the back of our minds but it's not really relevant to the game this weekend.
"The Premier League will always throw up difficulties. People probably make us underdogs in a lot of these games, let's understand that and can see what we can do.
"We've shown this season already we can go against people's opinions of us - before the season people said we were going down and I was the first one to be leaving. there's nothing better than proving people wrong.
"We've got into a position where if we take two or three hits we have to come back stronger. We took a lot of hits last year and the problem at that time was that our confidence was on the floor. We have to look at that now and think can we be stronger, mentally, as a club. It's a good test for us."
Everton will travel to London looking to avoid becoming the all-time leaders when it comes to suffering defeats to London sides in the Premier League.
Furthermore, Everton are looking to end Antonio Conte's run of six successive clean sheets in top-flight fixtures against Everton.
While Everton are currently on a three-match unbeaten streak away from Goodison Park, Spurs have a 100% record from six matches at their home ground this season. body check tags ::
