Neville: the best Everton squad since I joined

EVERTON captain Phil Neville believes the current squad is the best assembled in his five seasons at Goodison Park and that is why he is convinced they have as good a chance as any of winning the Europa League.

Everton hold a 2-1 advantage going into the second leg of the round of 32 against Sporting Lisbon tonight and even though they are missing a number of key players, Neville was in bullish mood ahead of the match.

He said: “When I signed we had just qualified for the Champions League and brought in four or five players before deadline. We didn’t have the experience to cope with Europe.

“The year after was different and we embraced the experience. It seemed to galvanise the whole team and the club in general.

“This is the finest squad of players we’ve had in my time at the club. We have a fine blend of youth and experience, continental experience as well.

“The next step for this club is to win a major competition. This season this competition represents our best option.”

Meanwhile Roy Hodgson has no intention of playing for a draw when his Fulham side take on Shakhtar Donetsk for a place in the last 16 of the Europa League.

Fulham head to Shakhtar’s impressive Donbass Arena holding a 2-1 advantage following the first leg at Craven Cottage last week.

But the wily Hodgson said: “Playing for a draw is a difficult thing to do, you automatically give the initiative to the other team.

“I don’t think it’s in our nature or in our style of play to do that, surrender the initiative and try to shut up shop for 90 minutes.

“I think we want to play them, match them at least in their play and that means attacking well and defending well.

“Certainly there is going to be nothing in our preparations that will take into account that we only need a draw.

“We are preparing to play well against a team that we know will come at us and try to cause us problems.

“First of all we will try to stop that and then when we get the ball we can cause them some problems.”