Mirallas Nearing Comeback

But Belgian not expected to be fit in time for Southampton.

David Moyes does not expect Kevin Mirallas to be fit in time for Monday's trip to Southampton but hopes to have the Belgian back in contention for next weekend's FA Cup trip to Bolton.

The Scot is also likely to be without Dutchman John Heitinga for the journey to the south coast with the defender still nursing a niggling problem that has seen him miss the Blues' last two games.

A persistent hamstring complaint means Mirallas has featured just once since mid-November.

But Moyes hopes to see the 25-year-old former Olympiakos man back in full training sometime next week.

Asked for an update on the fitness of both players, the Toffees chief said: "They’re getting much closer and hopefully we'll have them back, certainly if it’s not for this game it will be in the next week or two."

Everton will also be missing Tony Hibbert (calf) and Darron Gibson (thigh) for the clash at St Mary's but Moyes remains confident his team can pick up a fourth successive victory on the road.

"We've had some good results," he said. "We'd like to have more and if we want to continue to hover near the top end [of the league] we're going to have to try to continue to get some good results.

“It's important to try to pick up points away from home when we can. In the last couple of games we've done quite well and we've got to try to do that again."