Bernard is returning to Premier League action determined to prove he can consistently influence games and reach a "very high level” of performance every time he plays for Everton.

The Brazilian forward is aiming to add to his 13 league starts and three goals this season when Carlo Ancelotti's team squeeze nine matches into five weeks to complete the delayed 2019/20 campaign.

Bernard had arguably his finest game in an Everton shirt when he lit up Goodison Park with a virtuoso display against Newcastle United back in January and next time out at home broke the deadlock in a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

The 27-year-old – who insisted it felt “very rewarding” to join his teammates and senior Club figures in a collective salary deferral after football’s suspension in March because of the coronavirus pandemic – is keen to regularly hit those match-defining heights and “prove my worth” to manager Ancelotti.

Italian Ancelotti has overseen 11 top-flight games, starting Bernard six times – it would have been seven but for an injury sustained by the player warming up at Manchester City – and bringing him off the bench twice.

“The most important thing in football is maintaining consistency, knowing that if you can't improve every week, you need to aim to reach a very high level and stay there,” Bernard told evertontv.

“I demand a lot of myself, I could play a perfect game but if I make two or three silly mistakes they go through my mind and I have to work to avoid those things happening again.

“I'm the type of person who is always looking to improve in every aspect, always listening and absorbing everything that is good for me.

“These few weeks to finish off the season are going to be difficult with intense games coming one after the other. I hope, not just for me but for the entire squad, that we’ll be ready for these games, as they are very important for us.”

Bernard had one month at home in Brazil during lockdown, capitalising on a rare opportunity to spend time with family following a 14-day quarantine immediately after arriving in the country.

The go-ahead for Premier League clubs to report for work last month nevertheless doubled up as a green light for Bernard to get back to “what I love most in life… being able to play football, training and playing in games”.

Everton advanced from non-contact training to Saturday's full-scale practice match at Goodison in little more than three weeks.

They host Liverpool on Sunday before facing Norwich City three days later in a breathless top-flight return, with Everton among a cluster of clubs harbouring realistic European qualification ambitions.

“For us it's our profession, we go into every game intending to win, but it’s also something we love doing,” said Bernard.

“There are, of course, some players who start every game but in top-level football these days we are all starting players, we all have to be ready and focused for the opportunity to play and give our best.

“I want to start every game possible and so does every other player.

“I want to play and show my worth, show what I'm capable of, but there are tactics, considerations on how the opposition play and which player fits best or who could surprise the opposition.

“You have to respect this and wait for your moment. If I'm chosen to play in every game, or just in some games, I'll continue to be as dedicated as ever, putting in more and more effort towards starting every game.

“But it also depends a lot on what the manager sees not just in our team but also in the opposition.

“In this period [of condensed preparation] we have to be mindful of our diets, hydration and recovery, so we can be at our best in training to do what Carlo Ancelotti expects from us.

“We've been working on things we'd been doing throughout the season. We already know what we should be doing, the manager's ideas and what he expects from us, so we’re focusing on details, things we may have forgotten, to be well prepared for this first game.”

Everton must close a six-point gap to Wolverhampton Wanderers in sixth – hurdling a scrum of teams in the process – to figure in European competition next term.

Their bid will be aided, insists Bernard, by a united desire at the Club for Everton to operate in the upper reaches of domestic and European football.

This solidarity was underlined last week when CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale revealed that – in addition to a host of high-ranking Everton personnel forgoing or deferring significant portions of their wages – the Club’s first-team squad “voluntarily agreed to deferrals of up to 50 per cent for the next three months”.

“Right now, we need to think about everybody, to stop to think about the people who are really in need,” said Bernard.

“In Brazil people lost their jobs, or don't have money to buy food.

“I also understand the Club’s situation. Helping someone who needs food or a club that needs help at this time is very rewarding for me.

“Any help I can give people who are in need makes me very happy.

"I've been able to help those requiring food and was also able to help the Club; not just me, all the players were prepared to help and I think it was a really good and important initiative from everybody.”

Bernard continued: “I believe all us players have this determination and desire for Everton to be a winning team.

“I think this determination needs to come from the security guards at the entrance to Finch Farm to Carlo Ancelotti, the board and the Chairman.

“This desire and will to win and positivity need to come from all of us.

“It's not just feeling and having this desire, it's also about effort and giving our everything on the pitch in training and games for this to happen.

“We have a manager who is a proven winner and has this desire to win and I believe we are being guided very well by the right person.”