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Roberto Martinez sympathised with West Ham United after Dimitri Payet was injured against Everton earlier in the season.

But the Blues boss insists James McCarthy’s challenge on the French playmaker was an honest one - and not “nasty” as was claimed.

McCarthy picked up a yellow card at Upton Park in November for a first-half foul on Payet.

West Ham’s summer signing was forced off with an ankle injury soon after and went on to be sidelined until January.

Slaven Billic called it a “nasty” tackle and that it “should not be allowed” but Martinez has defended McCarthy.

“We’ve moved on from that,” Martinez said.

“It is great to see Dmitri Payet back fit and playing, you don’t want to see players out injured.

“But in the same way, James is an honest footballer, it was nothing malicious and those incidents happen, it happened to us with Tom Cleverley and Eric Dier at Spurs.

“This is the nature of this league, it is a committed league and every ball is a challenge and everyone will fight for the ball but in an honest manner and that is the way I saw it.

“That reaction was maybe down to the frustration of losing an important player, I think, deep down, everyone knew it was an honest challenge to get the ball.”

Payet has been one of the Premier League’s stand-out players this season, scoring seven goals and making six assists.

But Martinez insists West Ham have threats from all over the pitch.

“Payet is one of the creative playmakers and he is an important footballer when they have good, long spells of possession. He has outstanding delivery in dead-ball situations but West Ham have pace, they are very dynamic, the new striker has brought a new focal point for them, Anotnio is enjoying a good moment of form.

“This team can be resilient when they have to, they can be really tough to beat and really competitive off the ball, but on the ball they can produce dynamic play to hurt you and they have that final pass from Payet. They are a complete team, really.

“But it is about us looking at what we can do and how good we can be and using being at home as a real advantage.

“We need to forget about the results we’ve had in the league so far at home and look at the next five games as a fresh start and over 90 minutes let’s help the players and let’s get behind every single action.”

(Image: 2016 Getty Images)

Eleventh-placed Everton start the day eight points behind West Ham, who are in sixth.

Martinez is still targeting Europa League qualification this season and an extra place could open up, should Capital One Cup winners Man City finish in the top four.

But the Everton manager says it is impossible to know how many points will be good enough to take sixth position.

“It is one of those seasons where it is going to be really, really tight,” he said.

“It is not one of those seasons where a points tally will guarantee you a specific place in the table.

“There are so many games, involving teams fighting for the same objectives, that it is going to be a really tight season.

“I don’t think you can really guess what points tally would be good enough for sixth place but it will be a lot lower than what we achieved two seasons ago. That could easily put us in the Champions League positions this season but in this campaign, it will be very hard to tell and it could go down as close to goal difference.

“I wouldn’t rule anything out. There are a lot of teams who still have opportunities and things are still open.”