Roberto Martinez says Samuel Eto’o and Sylvain Distin will be fit for Everton’s return to Europe this week.
And the Blues boss insists they have the strength in depth to cope with the extra demands of the Europa League.
Everton face four games between now and the end of the month.
Long-term absentees Arouna Kone and Bryan Oviedo continued their progress towards a return by featuring for the under-21s against Chelsea yesterday while Tony Hibbert is expected to return in time for next week’s League Cup tie at Swansea City.
Eto’o (groin) and Distin (dead leg) missed the win over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday but Martinez is confident they will be passed fit for Thursday’s opening Group H clash at home to German outfit Wolfsburg.
He said: “Samuel Eto’o and Sylvain Distin will be back for Thursday plus the 18 players we had on Saturday plus Tyais Browning.”
Latest transfer rumours and football stories brought to you every minute of every day. For more stories like this subscribe to the team RSS feed. For the comments there is a Comments RSS feed too. Amazing views that you wont get anywhere else.
Today we have a one-off special offer on new Everton 3rd kit.