Everton 3 Reading 1: Phil Jagielka set to undergo ankle surgery

David Moyes confirmed that Phil Jagielka will undergo surgery after injuring his ankle in Everton’s victory over Reading.

Jagielka was forced off after just five minutes at Goodison Park following a nasty-looking challenge from Reading’s Adam Le Fondre.

Goals from Marouane Fellaini, Steven Pienaar and Kevin Mirallas set the Toffees on their way to victory before substitute Hal Robson-Kanu netted a late consolation for the visitors.

“I’m disappointed because Jags is such a good player,” said Moyes, whose side are now just two points behind fifth-placed Arsenal. “It’s a bad one. He’ll have surgery tonight to stitch it up.

“I’ve genuinely not seen the challenge again. At the time I thought it was poor. Maybe if I see it again I will think differently.”

Moyes added: “The Jagielka injury upset us a little bit at the time but we went on and we scored a couple of really good goals.”

Meanwhile, Reading boss Brian McDermott was impressed by Everton’s Belgian midfielder but insists his side, who are 19th in the table, will not be affected as they prepare to welcome Aston Villa next weekend.

He said: “Fellaini is a top player, we know that. At times he can do absolutely anything. We saw them through until the 40th minute and then they scored which was unfortunate.

“We have to do things differently at Reading. We have to stick together as a group, that’s really important. That result today won’t affect what happens next Saturday and we’ll now look forward to that home game against Aston Villa.”