Everton captain Phil Neville was happy to make his playing return for the reserves this week.

There are suggestions that reserve team football may be a dying form of the game, but Neville believes it still has a crucial role to play in English football.

"I think there is a fallacy that it's not good for first team players to play in reserve games," he told evertonfc.com.

"But it is great experience for the younger players you are playing with, and the younger players that you are playing against. On a personal note I've been out for three-and-a-half weeks now so it's got me 90 minutes.

"I'm fit to play on Saturday. There's no excuse from the manager or from myself that I'm not match fit. I'm fit and I'm ready to play."