Steven Naismith has hailed the winning culture at Everton.

Naismith, 25, missed most of last season through injury and reckons the enforced lay-off has given him a new thirst for action with club and country.

He said: "The whole way through most of pre-season, I've enjoyed it more than most footballers enjoy pre-season just for the fact I had been out.

"Now that I'm back involved in games, the games can't come quick enough. I think that was something the manager made a conscious point of stating to the players, that he wanted us to start well.

"We showed, especially in the Manchester United game, we were willing to fight and got our just rewards with a good 1-0 win and we pushed on from there in the cup game and against Aston Villa [won 3-1], although obviously last weekend wasn't a great result to finish it off.

"The squad believe we can go into every game and compete and win. You want to finish as high as you can, that goes without saying, but it's too early to say where you're going to finish

"The teams you come up against every week, it shows there is real quality in every team. Every game's a tough game and you've got to be at your best to get results."