Former Everton and Leeds goalkeeper Nigel Martyn rates Tim Howard among the best in the Premiership. "How good is Tim?" wrote Martyn in his column for the Liverpool Echo. "Well, he must be in the top four keepers in the Premier League.

"The top four have a monopoly on quality, but our man is comfortably better than Manuel Almunia.

"Tim deserves his place in the top bracket. He is a good organiser, kicks well, has terrific concentration and rarely makes mistakes.

"And it would be great to see his sequence of shutouts continue against Hull at Goodison this weekend to maintain what has proved to be a fruitful period."