But the Everton chief is equally determined not to allow the Lescott saga to further undermine the Toffees' attempts to force their way into the top four.

Everton face Arsenal this evening in their season opener, the club many feel are firmly in their sights this season.

Everton, in fifth place, finished nine points behind fourth-placed Arsenal in the Barclays Premier League last term.

But Moyes does not see the Gunners as their obvious target.

He said: "Arsenal are not a weak link (in the top four), they have fantastic players. There will be a challenge from Aston Villa, City and Spurs. They are all rightly getting mentioned to be right up there.

"It may not be Arsenal who do not stay in the top four, it can be any one of a number of clubs there.

"It will be harder to finish fifth again, that's obvious. But I felt it would be harder last season with the likes of Spurs and Newcastle spending.

"But we proved that with a stable club we can achieve success, rather than with just the money.

"There have not been many changes here, it is the same players, so why should we not feel we can finish fifth or better again?"

Brazilian striker Jo is in Everton's squad after recovering from an ankle injury, while Lescott will also play despite a written transfer request and two rejected bids for his services from Manchester City.

Moyes has made it very clear what he thinks of City's long pursuit of the England defender.

He said: "Joleon is a massive player for us, we think so much of him and do not want to lose him.

"The players here think so much of him, and as a staff we do.

"We don't want Joleon to go, it is as simple as that. His head has been twisted and I cannot say the way things have been done is right, it is not how we do things at this club."

Moyes added: "City are not talking to me. They know who to phone and that is me but it hasn't happened. They must be talking to the wrong people.

"There is not a chance we will sell this close to the end of the window, the offers were not big enough.

"Joleon has been distracted, he is in turmoil with the situation. He has been consistently told he will not be sold so he should get his head around that and get on with the job.

"But maybe other people are telling him differently. I hope he knuckles down, he should do because the fans gave him a great reception last week for the friendly with Malaga, and they should do.

"Maybe Manchester City are having dialogue with somebody else, but it is not between me and City.

"He (City boss Mark Hughes) said they were talking to people who make the decisions here, well he knows who makes the decisions at Everton and it is me.

"He has never once picked up the phone and given me a call, so he is not going to get the answer. I am the one who makes the decisions here, not like other clubs.

"It has disrupted us. They have been talking about it and we have not been talking about the start of the season, that has been disruptive. So maybe that is what the overall plan was."