David Moyes has made it clear to his Everton squad that there "won't be any excuses at the end of the season" if they do not meet expectations despite their small squad, says midfielder Harrison Armstrong.

After a difficult summer in which the Toffees missed out on several targets and lost star attacker Iliman Ndiaye to Manchester City, as well as Armstrong himself coming close to an exit before fan protests forced a U-turn, Moyes accepted he has "to live with disappointments" after admitting he wanted to do more business on transfer deadline day.

"I've been at Everton all my life so I know what this club entails," 19-year-old Armstrong told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"One thing we won't be doing is making excuses for why we're not performing on the pitch.

"As long as we can field 11 players on the pitch there is no excuse why we can't be working hard and why we can't be competing with some of the best teams.

"It's been made clear to us that there won't be any excuses at the end of the season. Ultimately, we have to take it game by game and we could be in a better position, but we're going to do everything we can to finish in those European places."

On the impact Moyes has had on his young career, Armstrong added: "He has a good balance. He's someone I can learn off so much and when he does speak highly of me it is so nice. But, I know he wants to improve me and push me on and sometimes the best way to do that is to be honest and that is what he is.

"All I can take is positives from him. He has so much experience and he's going to catapult me in my career."