Pienaar earns captain Neville’s praise for adding to Blues’ woes

The South Africa playmaker caught the eye with a goalscoring return to Goodison Park in Saturday’s win over Chelsea.

Pienaar, 29, rejoined the Toffees on loan on last month’s transfer deadline day after a frustrating year on the fringes of the Tottenham team.

Neville said: “It was a great performance from Pienaar.

“He is obviously back doing what he does best at a club he enjoys playing at.

“I don’t think he realises how well thought of he is here.

“When he was at Tottenham I don’t think there was a day that went past when we didn’t speak about him.

“The combination between him and Leighton Baines on the left-hand side – there is no better combination in English football at the moment.

“He has had a good return. He was man of the match at Wigan last week and probably our best player, along with Denis [Stracqualursi] on Saturday.”

Pienaar fired Everton into a fifth-minute lead against Chelsea before Stracqualursi, with his first Premier League goal, secured a win 18 minutes from time which piled on the pressure for visiting manager Andre Villas-Boas.

The result maintained Everton’s recent revival after another sluggish start to the season.

The Merseysiders, who beat title-chasing Manchester City in their previous home game, are now unbeaten in five league matches as well as through to the FA Cup fifth round.

Villas-Boas intends to use the FA Cup and Champions League to restore his team’s confidence.

The Blues’ poor form continued as they slipped out of the top four after this defeat.

Chelsea, who surrendered a 3-0 lead to draw with champions Manchester United eight days ago, have collected just three points from their last four league games.

That run has increased speculation over Villas-Boas’s future at Stamford Bridge and the Portuguese is hoping a switch of focus can revive spirits.

The Londoners host Birmingham in the FA Cup fifth round next week before travelling to Napoli in Europe’s elite competition.

Villas-Boas said: “There are two different competitions now ahead of us and two competitions where we want to show a different quality.

“We have one week to prepare for Birmingham and then Napoli.

“They are two competitions where we are in a very good position and we have to rebuild confidence.”