Everton defender Phil Jagielka hopes to be back in action next month.

Although he's not ready to target a date in particular for his return, he is hoping to be back early in 2010 from his knee injury.

"It's going well, still quite slow but that's part and parcel of it at the moment," he told evertonTV.

"I've just got to wait, and hopefully a few weeks into the New Year I'll be able to start training and see where it goes from there."