Moyes: Season over for Arteta May 02 2008
Everton's bad luck with injuries has continued with midfielder Mikel Arteta being ruled out for their remaining two matches of the season.
The Spaniard has been struggling with a stomach and groin injury since the end of last year and despite returning to his homeland for treatment the problem has not improved.
Arteta returned to England and came on as a second-half substitute in last weekend's 2-2 draw against Aston Villa but could not train properly this week.
With James Vaughan (knee) and Tim Cahill (foot) having previously had their campaigns ended prematurely, Arteta's absence for Sunday's clash at Arsenal and next weekend's visit of Newcastle is yet another blow in the Toffees' bid to secure fifth place in the Premier League.
Manager David Moyes was obviously disappointed to lose one of his better, more creative, players for the crucial end to the season.
"He has had an injury which he has not been comfortable with since probably before Christmas," said Moyes.
"We have given him opportunities to go back to Spain and see a specialist he wants to work with there but he is not comfortable with it either now so in fairness we have to say he is not available.
"He came on in the game on Sunday and he came back to training and hasn't felt good for a couple of days so really we are ruling him out until the end of the season and until the start of the next.
"Mikel feels it after games more so. He feels sore with it and doesn't feel comfortable. He's played some games, he's missed some training and I think it has affected his form.
"But it does not require surgery. He has had some rest and has been getting some treatment.
"We will do everything we can - he has done everything he can to get himself fit and it has just not happened."
Moyes accepted the injuries to important players had affected the club's now failed challenge for fourth place and was threatening to scupper their hopes of holding on to fifth, with in-form Aston Villa just three points behind.
"It has impacted on us more since January. It didn't affect our form initially but when you lose players over a lengthy period it does," said the Scot.
"If you are missing players for a week or two weeks you can get through it but when you lose your better players from the team it does have an impact."
From a positive point of view, Moyes has learned lessons from the injury problems to his small squad and is determined not to allow a repetition next term by boosting his playing staff in the summer.
"I want us to be strong and continue to progress and we need to do that. We need to have an even stronger squad," he added.
"At the start of this season we strengthened the squad and I think it showed by the performances we put in but maybe since January it has been a bit of a drain on us.
"You learn from it and hopefully we can do better next season. Quality will always be first but I think quantity as well is required."