Neville’s Christmas bonus

Everton skipper Phil Neville is happy with his progress from a knee ligament injury.

Neville picked up the injury during the defeat at Fulham in September and thankfully did not require surgery.

“I’m doing okay,” Neville told Sky Sports News.

“I think with any serious knee injury you have good days and you have bad days, and I have had more good days than bad days.

“I have started jogging this week, I have started touching a ball again and it’s always nice to be able to see light at the end of the tunnel.

“I’m starting to get to the point where I’m getting a bit frustrated because I’m itching to get back into first-team action but I have to be patient.

“I’m saying about two or three weeks but the surgeons and the physios are saying more like five or six weeks, so hopefully we can meet somewhere in between.”

He added: “I’m hoping to be back before Christmas. The surgeon said 12 weeks when he initially saw the injury and the injury has progressed very well.

“It’s about getting back to fitness. I haven’t started twisting and turning yet, so that’s the next big test for me.

“I will see the surgeon again next week and hopefully he will say I don’t need surgery. That’s the best I can hope for and then I can step up my training.

“The game in Benfica on Thursday night (in the Europa League) was a game I wanted to play in. It’s a fantastic stadium (Estadio da Luz), I played there in Euro 2004 so I know what kind of stage it is to play on, but there are many more big games to come and hopefully I will be back for some of them.”