Ahead of Everton's Premier League clash against Newcastle United, manager Marco Silva has admitted that England U21 star Ademola Lookman is pushing hard for a place in the starting line-up.

The Nigeria Football Federation target gave a good account of himself after coming off the bench in the 1-0 loss to Liverpool last weekend and was in contention to make his first Premier League start of the season against The Reds but had just recovered from injury.

''I can tell you, because the game has already passed, he had a different week last week. He worked with our team just on Saturday, he had a small issue on Tuesday before the Liverpool game,'' Silva told reporters.

"It was good for me that nobody talked about this situation, it was a good signal to me!

''He did very well in 30 minutes against Liverpool and he's more than ready to start and is a possibility for tomorrow.''

Lookman has not started a Premier League game since playing the first half of The Toffees 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace in November 2017.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : evertonfc.com