NO REGRETS – that’s the message both on and off the pitch for David Moyes.

The Everton boss is preparing to navigate the frantic finale of another transfer window while also targeting six points from consecutive home games, and as ever during this campaign the stakes are high.

Moyes is unsure whether he will be able to complete the capture of Netherlands international midfielder Leroy Fer in order to add muscle to his bid for a top four spot, but is at least certain that his Champions League hopes would be bolstered by victory against West Brom at Goodison tonight.

And the Scot knows the next few days could be pivotal in his over-riding aims for a season which has become definitive in his 11 year Everton reign.

“I felt that we are in a really strong position and could we try and strengthen that position and stay there if we can,” says Moyes as he reflects on the importance of adding to his squad before the transfer window closes coupled with a return to winning ways in the Premier League.

“I would hate to look back and think I hadn’t given that a go or made any attempt to do that.

“The squad needs help. I think the squad has done brilliant to get where it has got but it could do with one or two additions.

“We have flowed better this season though and as long as we keep grinding out results until we get back into our stride that’s important.

“But it is not through a lack of trying that we want to get back playing as well as we did in the early part of the season.

“If we pick up the points that gives us a chance of going into the last 12-14 games in a pretty strong position.”

First up for the Toffees is the clash with Steve Clarke’s men this evening, where they will hope to take the momentum from Saturday’s last-gasp FA Cup fourth-round victory over Bolton. Everton have drawn both their last two league games without scoring, against Swansea and Southampton, but remain in fifth place and only three points off the top four.

Moyes added: “We’ve worked hard to be in a strong position in the Premier League.

“We’re slightly disappointed that we drew the last two games but it hasn’t got us in any worse position.

“We’ve now got a couple of home games and we have to try to take advantage of it. But West Brom are a tough nut to crack. They’re one of the only teams who have beaten us this season, and I think Steve Clarke’s done a really good job.

“If anybody’s turning up thinking this is a foregone conclusion, they’re quite a bit off the mark I think.

“We just have to keep ploughing on and picking up the points. January’s a long hard month, which it’s proved to be. Once we come out of this month we can maybe look to see where we’ve got to go.”

Clarke has taken to management like a duck to water and West Brom head into tonight’s match only four points behind Everton and still firmly in the hunt for European football despite a six-game winless run.

One of the Baggies’ victories came against Everton in September, and Moyes praised the job done by Clarke, previously assistant boss at Chelsea and Liverpool.

“With his experience, the managers he’s worked under and the clubs he’s been at, it was probably the right time, and I think a good club for him to join as well,” said Moyes.

“West Brom are quite a stable club, they’ve certainly got some good players. When you win the games and you get off to a good start, that definitely helps the way people perceive you, and Steve deserves that.

“I can see them certainly finishing in the top half, and I think if you’d given that to Steve at the start of the season he’d have taken it. Maybe now he’s looking for much more. He’s trying to chase us down and they’ve done really well.”

Moyes did not dismiss the possibility of adding one or two more new faces before the transfer window shuts on Thursday, but his main focus remains on the games against West Brom and Villa.

He added: “I’m always concentrating on the players we’ve got here and doing the work to prepare the team.

“My mind is mainly on the players I’ve got and not the ones I haven’t got.

“I think there are a few things rattling around, but nothing definite going on.”