Friday 22 December 2017 05:59, UK
Morgan Schneiderlin admits he was surprised to experience a backlash from Everton fans earlier in the season, following reports he was sent home from training.
Sky sources reported former Everton caretaker boss David Unsworth was forced to remove Schneiderlin and Kevin Mirallas from the training session due to a lack of effort.
Following the incident, Schneiderlin was dropped from the Everton squad by Unsworth and received criticism from fans, despite claiming the reports were untrue.
When asked whether he has been able to rebuild a positive relationship with the fans, Schneiderlin said: "Yeah, I'm trying to do [that], it was a thing coming out from nothing. I was surprised that this story came out because I didn't really do anything.
"It was the choice of the manager not to put me in the squad, it was not because I behaved bad or something. It was just a choice for him [Unsworth].
"For myself I was surprised but there will always be some people who are going to believe what they read in the press.
"My only thing is to show them on the pitch that I'm 100 per cent focused. I can assure everyone that I am focused, that I'm just thinking about Everton and to improve the results and myself everyday."
Schneiderlin has featured in every game since Sam Allardyce took the reins at Everton and will be hoping that continues on Saturday when Chelsea make the trip to Goodison Park, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
"It's a big game, but we have to embrace it," Schneiderlin added.
"We know at Goodison we are a threat to everyone, so we have to set the tempo of the game, we have to cause them problems and then we will see."
