Everton fullback Leighton Baines has hailed the impact this season of midfielder Leon Osman.
Osman has been the most consistent performer in recent weeks, filling the midfield breach left by Steven Pienaar, who joined Tottenham Hotspur in January.
And Baines said: "Ossie is a great footballer so it's not difficult to have a relationship with someone who has high footballing intelligence.
"Ossie has been playing out of his skin recently and has been one of our best players. Losing Steven was always going to be a blow because he was one of our better players but at the same time we knew we had players who could come in and do a job there.
"Ossie, in the main, is the person that has come in and done that and this speaks volumes of his quality."
