Kilbane determined to avoid relegation repeat

Irish winger Kevin Kilbane is convinced he is not heading for a second successive relegation campaign in the Barclaycard Premiership.

The Republic of Ireland star went down with Sunderland last term before his £1m (€1.5m) summer move to Everton.

As the Merseysiders head for Blackburn tonight, they are just two points off the bottom three and 19th-placed Rovers.

But Kilbane insists this Everton squad is big and strong enough to quickly pull away from danger.

He said: “We have got some very good players here, and I think people overlook that sometimes.

“I think probably every position is covered with as good a player if someone is injured, and that is what you need in the Premier League.

“We have got a lot of good players here, and it has certainly opened my eyes. Some of the players may be ones you have not necessarily heard too much about.

“But they have certainly been impressing me day in day out.

“It has certainly opened my eyes since I have been at the club, the quality that is here. It is just disappointing we could not win against Chelsea last weekend.”

Everton were very unlucky to lose at home to the title challengers; yet they have won just three of their last 16 league matches, dating back to April.

Kilbane is nonetheless confident things will turn around soon.

He said: “Since I have come here, I have really been impressed with the performances of the team as a whole and how solid we are looking.

“But we have to get one or two more goals just to push up that table a little bit now.”

Kilbane is in no doubt about the top-flight pedigree of the current Everton squad.

“We are playing some good stuff at the moment. We are looking solid – teams are not creating many chances against us, and that is one thing we have to be optimistic about.

“The manager spoke to us after the Chelsea match and said we did not deserve to be beaten – and he was right.”

Everton will be without Duncan Ferguson at Ewood Park, the Scot having spent a night in hospital last week with respiratory problems. Also missing will be Kevin Campbell with a toe injury.

Steve Watson and Alessandro Pistone have groin problems – while Lee Carsley, Richard Wright and David Weir are nursing knee injuries and Scot Gemmill is still struggling with a thigh strain.

Tomasz Radzinski, who picked up a slight hip injury in his comeback game against Chelsea, is fit to play – and Li Tie has shaken off flu.