No Naismith for Lille trip

Steven Naismith has not travelled with the squad to France for Thursday’s Europa League group game against LOSC Lille.

Roberto Martinez, his coaching staff and 21 players were joined by Club officials and members of the media team on the 10am flight out of Liverpool John Lennon airport this morning.

Ross Barkley, Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy, are all included in the travelling party after missing the last Europa League away game.

However, Leon Osman, Bryan Oviedo and Arouna Kone did not board the flight along with Naismith. Injuries to Kevin Mirallas and John Stones also keep them on Merseyside.

They are due to touch down in Lille shortly after midday local time, (11am GMT). Kick off on Thursday is 7pm in France or 6pm in the UK.

Martinez and his players are set to travel straight to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy for a training session. The manager and goalkeeper Tim Howard are due to speak to the media at the ground, evertonfc.com will have reaction from the press conference later.

The Blues are looking to maintain their unbeaten start in Europa League Group H after opening up with a 4-1 home win over Wolfsburg in September before earning a 1-1 draw at FC Krasnodar earlier this month.

The travelling Everton squad is: Howard, Robles, Griffiths, Coleman, Baines, Hibbert, Browning, Garbutt, Jagielka, Distin, Alcaraz, Gibson, McCarthy, Barry, Besic, Barkley, Pienaar, Atsu, McGeady, Lukaku, Eto’o.