Mirallas ready for extra responsibility

Kevin Mirallas may only be 26, but now in his third season at Goodison Park, he says he is ready to embrace a more senior role at Everton this term and believes that he has  a pivotal part to play in leading the teams attacks.

With Roberto Martinez now conjuring up a nice mix of youth and experience in both the middle and final thirds, the Belgian is targeting a greater contribution this season – starting against Chelsea on Saturday evening.

He said: “I feel very happy here, very much at home. I feel good in myself. It’s my third season here and my main ambition this year is to score more goals and take a more decisive role in matched, continuing from the season’s start to finish.

“For me, given the injuries we have, I feel I have to take the team under my wing and to help us in that sense. There’s a lot of responsibility on me to steer the attacks and I hope this will show our resilience even more.”

Everton are without the injured quartet of Steven Pienaar, Bryan Oviedo, Arouna Kone and Ross Barkley for the game against Chelsea and winger Christian Atsu is ineligible due to his loan conditions but Mirallas takes the positives from this:

“I feel like I am playing better and better as time goes on and, despite the number of absentees, with increased effort from players like myself, we’ll be able to show we can get by and have a great match this weekend,” added Mirallas. “I do like the big matches and this is certainly one of them.”

Well the Belgian has seen many incomings and outgoings since his own arrival at the club in August 2012 and he believes the recent quality of additions including three-times Champions League winner Samuel Eto’o has highlighted progress on and off the pitch.

He added: “An impressive squad and a wider range of players can only help us compete in the Premier League and help us stay at the top of it where we belong.

“Our objective as a club is to continue to progress and stay among the best teams in the Premier League. We’re spending more and attracting a higher calibre of player perhaps. That shows the evolution of the team and the ambition we have.”