He said: "It was probably always going to be the case that our first victory after our bad run would be a difficult one to earn. That's how it turned out at Villa.
"The way the ball fell to Danny, off Mark Kinsella's foot, in the last minute maybe shows that our luck is turning. That sort of break hasn't been coming our way over recent weeks.
"We shouldn't have lost any of the five games and it has been hard to lift the players at times because they've been doing very well without getting any rewards. Hopefully things will go our way a bit more from now on.
"This weekend's game is always the first one I look for when the fixture list comes out at the start of the season. I'm as passionate about derby games now as I was when I was a player and I know our lads are really looking forward to it.
"Everton have had a good start to the season and it has been mentioned many times that they're above us in the table. That won't matter a jot though when the game starts. League positions count for nothing on derby day."