Baines eyes early return

Everton defender Leighton Baines has not given up hope of being fit enough to play some part in the hectic festive schedule.

The 29-year-old former Wigan Athletic left-back has been sidelined since last month’s 3-3 draw with Liverpool when he broke a toe.

At the time, Everton boss Roberto Martinez predicted that he would be without Baines’ services for six weeks but the player has targeted an earlier return to action.

Martinez’s timescale would put Baines in contention for the FA Cup third-round tie at home to Queens Park Rangers at the beginning of January, but an upbeat Baines said: "The manager said early on it's quite a broad timeframe that you can be looking at.

"We thought about different things, injections and stuff, but we didn't know whether that would set me back further so we are just trying to let it heal naturally at the moment.

"Obviously the schedule thickens up around Christmas and new year so you like to think you would be back and available to help the team at that point, but it's just one of those things. You have to wait and see."

Baines has been a virtual ever-present in the Toffees side since moving to Goodison Park from the Latics in the summer of 2007 in a £6million deal.

Since then, he has found the net 18 times in 211 Premier League appearances and has become one of the most reliable players in the team, much to the delight of fans who bet on football.

In Baines’ absence, Everton have picked up seven points out of a possible nine, beating Stoke City and securing a rare victory at Manchester United, as well as coming from behind to claim a 1-1 draw at Arsenal, currently one of the favourites for the title in the football betting odds.
Costa Rica international Bryan Oviedo has played at left-back in those games and has proved to be an able deputy for Baines.