The Toffees' manager believes his side can still finish an inconsistent Premier League campaign on a high after winning three of their last four top-flight games
Roberto Martinez believes Everton can use the unpredictability of the Premier League to their advantage and gatecrash the European places.
Just nine points separate 11th-placed Everton and Manchester City in fourth following a midweek round of fixtures that saw four of the top five fail to win.
The Toffees have largely been inconsistent throughout the campaign but after winning three of their last four games, Martinez has called on his charges to finish the season off strongly to give themselves a chance of qualifying for European competition.
"This season the margins are so small, the games full of intensity and intent," the Spaniard told Thursday's news conference. "There is a real psychological belief from teams that they can win football games.
"I haven't seen that for a long time. Previously when you played the so-called top four maybe you were going in with an inferiority complex, that doesn't happen anymore.
"What it shows is that everything is to play for, if you can find a run of results from now to the end of the season, anything is open, nothing is decided in the league.
"From our point of view we've had seven defeats all season, we've been very consistent, we are in that period where we have to get better results at home, our away from has been outstanding.
"We are looking to finish as strong as we can, we've been very consistent in the last six games across the competitions.
"We need to keep that run going until the end of the season and see where that takes us, the positions in the table this season are very much open."
Everton consigned beleaguered Aston Villa to further misery by beating them 3-1 on Tuesday and next up for the Merseysiders is a home clash against in-form West Ham.
- Goal