• Scot backs under-pressure Italian before visit to Goodison
• ‘Sullivan is entitled to have his say but it doesn’t help’

David Moyes has said Gianfranco Zola requires support not interference from the West Ham United board as he looks to increase the pressure on the beleaguered Italian on Sunday. The Everton manager also believes stability at Goodison Park and elsewhere offers a pertinent lesson to Zola’s employers in the midst of their struggle for Premier League survival.

Zola has failed to back West Ham’s official protest against Fulham by saying he has “no complaint” against the team Roy Hodgson fielded against Hull City last weekend. The Italian’s stance threatens to widen the fracture with David Gold and David Sullivan, the Hammers’ co-owners, following the latter’s public outburst against the players’ performance 10 days ago, after the 3-1 defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers at Upton Park.

Zola said he had not been consulted over the decision to lodge an appeal with the Premier League, which received the official notice today.

“I just learnt that,” he said. “I didn’t know it was happening. I have no doubts that Roy Hodgson is doing his best for his team. He’s a person that I respect for his loyalty and I have no complaints with that. He decided to do that and I’m sure he did the right thing for his club. Plus, I read the reports and I think Fulham were not that bad, so it’s no problem.

“I want to be successful on the pitch and that’s my only concern. I like to get my points on the pitch by playing and beating the opposition.”

Zola returned home to Sardinia to consider his future last weekend after a sixth successive league defeat. West Ham are level on points with third-bottom Hull, having played one game more. Sullivan’s criticism after the defeat by Wolves intensified the spotlight on Zola’s position and Moyes, himself no stranger to difficult times during his early years at Everton, believes the comments have complicated the West Ham manager’s task at a critical juncture.

“He [Sullivan] is entitled to have his say because he owns the club but I don’t necessarily think it helps,” said the Everton manager, who is seeking an eighth consecutive home league win on Sunday. “This is a difficult time with only a few games to go and managers need support and help. I think it is better to say things like that behind closed doors. Players can sometimes jump on things like that [Sullivan's apology on the West Ham website after the Wolves game] when they want to hear it from their manager. I’m sure Gianfranco would like to get on with his job without too much interference.”

Moyes admitted the trust between a manager and his board “has to be earned” but cited his situation and Sir Alex Ferguson’s at Manchester United as two examples of how a chairman’s support can reap dividends. He said: “It is up to the manager to pick players back up after a defeat. I’ve lost a lot of games and not felt good but I’ve always had great backing from Bill Kenwright here. What you need at times like that is a chairman to give you the encouragement and the positivity to get back up.

“Sir Alex has always said he is in control of the football club at Manchester United and I am fortunate in that I’ve got control over what goes on at Everton. That might not be the way for every club to go forward but it is the right way for us.”

West Ham’s prospects of survival rest on how they can negotiate a difficult run-in, which also includes trips to Liverpool and Fulham. While Zola said he was unsure whether the latter game is “going to be spicy or not” due to the complaint, the Fulham striker Bobby Zamora said he hopes the club can win a first ever European trophy, while continuing to accrue points.

Zamora scored the opening goal — his 18th of the season — in Fulham’s 2-1 Europa Cup quarter-final, first-leg win against Wolfsburg yesterday. He said: “If we can win the Europa Cup and finish on 42 points we’ll take that all day long. I am desperate to score. I want to play, I want to score goals.” Fulham host Wigan .

West Ham UnitedEvertonAndy HunterJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk

Once, Birmingham City and Aston Villa could have joined forces to conquer Europe. That was what City officials proposed in 1955, when their club were invited to become the first English participants in European competition, but Villa rejected the idea. So Birmingham contested the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by themselves, and over the next few seasons enjoyed successful campaigns on the continent – 50 years ago this month they became the first English club to play in a European final, losing in the Fairs Cup decider to Barcelona. This could be the season in which they finally secure a return – but that may entail leapfrogging the team in the last of England’s Europa League places, one spot and two points above Birmingham: Aston Villa.

If Birmingham pull off that unlikely feat, it will partially be because, unlike in 1955, they have been reinforced by former Villa players. Liam Ridgewell has been a mainstay of their defence all season, Kevin Phillips has struck important goals, and against Everton another who once earned a living at Villa Park finally made a goal-scoring contribution. Craig Gardner’s equaliser in the 52nd minute was his first goal for the club he supported as a child and since joining from their biggest rivals in January. “Anybody who has any doubt about him [because of his Villa connection] should realise now that he’s a proud local Blues fan,” said the manager Alex McLeish.

“He was ill before the game but he said he was OK. I knew when I signed him that he’s got that heart and is the type of character that would play through injury and illness, but I still had to say ‘you can’t let us down here – if you’re going to collapse after 20 minutes it’s a problem’.” Gardner played almost an hour, during which his dynamism, in addition to his goal, helped his side recover from two goals down and salvage a point that spared them losing ground to Villa, and prevented Everton from gaining any on either of them.

When Victor Anichebe and Aiyegbeni Yakubu struck twice within three minutes in the first half they not only gave Everton a seemingly commanding lead, but also became the first team September to score twice at St Andrews. They could have inflicted more damage but when Cameron Jerome cut the deficit by wafting a Keith Fahey cross into the net, Birmingham rallied. Gardner’s subsequent equaliser was deserved. Gardner’s form proved that Birmingham have greater depth than earlier in the season. In recent weeks that has enabled McLeish to practise rotation for the first time, a welcome option as players who excelled earlier in the campaign started to suffer from fatigue. McLeishstill believes that the other clubs challenging for Europe have greater playing resources, though not superior mental ones.”The other teams might have bigger squads than us and more experience and maybe more quality, but our players again showed terrific resilience,” said McLeish. “They will never give up.”

David Moyes, meanwhile, bemoaned “an opportunity lost” by his team. Everton also lost three players – Tim Cahill limped off with calf trouble, while the extent of the ankle injury that forced Anichebe off has yet to be ascertained but Landon Donovan has played his last game for Everton for now, having flown back to LA Galaxy yesterday at the expiry of his loan. However, with Major League Soccer players threatening to delay the start of the American season by striking for better pay, Moyes retains a small hope that he may return. “We’ll try to work something out, you never know,” he said.

Premier LeagueBirmingham CityEvertonPaul Doyleguardian.co.uk