Everton keeper Tim Howard urges Goodison crowd to turn the tide on Benfica

Tim Howard is hoping the Goodison Park crowd will help Everton erase the painful memories of last month’s  Europa League thrashing against Benfica.

The Portugese side hammered David Moyes’ men 5-0 to end their unbeaten record in the competition.

After earlier beating both AEK Athens and BATE Borisov 4-0 to top the group, a badly depleted Everton side went to the Stadium of Light and were lambs to the slaughter in front of a delighted home crowd.

But with Benfica now in town for the return leg, Howard is confident Everton’s fans can turn Goodison into a cauldron and affect the Lisbon club’s performance.

He said: “They gave us a real pasting in Benfica and that hurts.

“Any professional would say the same, it is like getting hit on the chin and you lose some of your pride.

“There is no revenge or anything like that, we are trying to advance out of our group and it is a big deal that we get a result.

“It was not nice walking off the field there.

“It was a fantastic spectacle and an amazing arena and it was nice to play there and see the way they go about things.

“But at Goodison when everyone is pushing us on you can feel that momentum.

“On our best days here it is amazing, so hopefully they can feel a bit of what they gave us.”

Everton’s terrible injury problems were dealt a further blow yesterday when manager David Moyes confirmed that Mikel Arteta has been forced into a further operation to flush an infection out of his knee.

It had been hoped that the Spanish winger could return from his cruciate rupture before Christmas but he is likely to now be on the sidelines until 2010.

Along with that problem, Everton cannot again pick either John Heitinga or Lucas Neill for tonight’s clash because of European regulations.

Heitinga played for Atletico Madrid in a Champions League qualifier earlier this season, while Neill was signed by Everton after the competition registration date.

And Howard admitted he was frustrated that a settled Everton XI cannot be sorted out at the moment because of injuries and those Euro rules.

He added: “We have not been completely settled for various reasons.

“There have been injuries and suspensions and cup-ties, so when we are playing on different fronts it has been hard.

“The manager has had to chop and change because of those reasons and it is tough.

“We have gone from Wednesdays to Saturdays with different line-ups and it has been hard to have to keep swapping.

“When we get everybody back fit and healthy we have a really talented team.

“So along the way we have to pick up points and keep on fighting and get everybody back together and give it a push.”

Everton (probable): Howard; Hibbert, Yobo, Distin, Baines; Gosling, Fellaini, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov; Cahill; Yakubu.

Benfica (probable): Cesar; Pereira, Luisao, Luiz, Peixoto; Ramires, Garcia, Aimar, Di Maria; Saviola, Cardozo.