David Moyes will have his defensive options boosted by the return of Joseph Yobo for the visit of Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday.

The Nigerian has not figured for the Blues since the 2-2 home draw with Tottenham in December, when he suffered a hamstring problem.

However, he did travel to Angola with his international team-mates for the African Cup of Nations tournament in January, but was hit by a recurrence of the injury that forced him off the field against Spurs. 

The 28-year-old has fully recovered and will take his place in Moyes' squad to face the Portuguese outfit. Yobo’s return offsets the potential absence of Philippe Senderos, the Swiss centre-back is battling a back injury and is a doubt.

"Senderos has a bit of a sore back, he will be assessed on Tuesday and we will then see how he is," the Blues' boss told journalists at his pre-match press conference.

Steven Pienaar also rejoins the party after missing the 2-1 victory over Chelsea due to the one-match ban he served following his red card in the Merseyside derby.

Loanee Landon Donovan is registered for European competition and is included in the squad, but definitely out of contention are Marouane Fellaini - injured in the aforementioned game at Anfield - Tony Hibbert, Victor Anichebe and also long-term absentee Phil Jagielka.

Moyes also had an update on the Belgian international's current status after his early withdrawal against Liverpool.

He said: "I should know tonight or tomorrow on the extent of his injury. He won't play tomorrow night against Sporting. I am still waiting for a prognosis."

Everton (from): Howard, Nash, Baines, Distin, Coleman, Yobo, Senderos, Neville, Osman, Arteta, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, Pienaar, Donovan, Gosling, Cahill, Saha, Yakubu, Vaughan, Duffy, Baxter, Forshaw.

Head to Head:

This is the first ever meeting between the clubs at any level.
 
Everton European Record

Everton’s home record in European competition is as follows:

Everton’s overall record in Europe is:

* 1985 Cup Winners Cup final in Rotterdam

Everton’s record European win is 6-1 against SK Brann at Goodison in February 2008.

The Toffees’ five home losses have been to Manchester United (Fairs Cup, 2-1 in 1964/65), Feyenoord (UEFA Cup, 1-0 in 1979/80), Villarreal (Champions League qualifier, 2-1 in 2005/06), Benfica and BATE Borisov (Europa League, 2009/10) 

Everton are appearing in Europe for the third successive season for only the second time: the Toffees played in five successive campaigns from 1962/63 to 1966/67 inclusive. 

David Moyes’ European record

The Everton manager has the following record in Europe:

The Blues’ boss has 13 victories in Europe, which is a club record surpassing the previous best set of 11 set by Harry Catterick, and was achieved in the away win over BATE Borisov earlier this season. 

On Tuesday the Blues’ boss will overtake Catterick’s previous club record of taking charge of Everton in 24 European matches.

The Players

Tony Hibbert set a new appearance record in Europe for the Toffees when he featured against BATE before Christmas, breaking the record set by Colin Harvey and Brian Labone.

Most appearances in Europe with the Toffees:

Five different players have captained the Toffees in Europe this season - Neville, Yobo, Osman, Cahill and Hibbert.

A total of 10 players have been dismissed in European matches involving Everton:

For Everton

9-Nov-1966 Johnny Morrissey ECW Cup Real Zaragoza Away
17-Sep-1975 Mike Bernard  UEFA Cup AC Milan  Home  
2-Nov-1995 Craig Short  ECW Cup Feyenoord  Away
28-Aug-2009 Tony Hibbert  Europa Lge Sigma Olumouc Away
18-Sep-2009   Louis Saha  Europa Lge AEK Athens  Home 

Against Everton

11-Oct-1966 Morten Larsen  ECW Cup Aalborg  Home
20-Sep-2007 Seweryn Gancarczyk UEFA Cup Metalist Kharkiv Home
20-Sep-2007 Olexandr Babych UEFA Cup Metalist Kharkiv Home
5-Dec-2007 Nicolas Lombaerts UEFA Cup Zenit   Home 
18-Sep-2009 Carlos Araujo  Europa Lge AEK Athens  Home

Tim Cahill is in line for his 450th career club appearance should he play on Tuesday while Steven Pienaar is one short of 100 matches for the Toffees.

The Goals

Three Everton players have recorded European hat-tricks: Alan Ball v Keflavik (European Cup, 1970/71), Andy Gray v Fortuna Sittard (ECWC, 1984/85) and Yakubu v SK Brann (UEFA Cup, 2007/08). All were at Goodison.

No opponent has scored a hat-trick against the Toffees in Europe.

Louis Saha – who played for Manchester United in both their wins over Sporting in the Champions League group stages in 2007/08 – has netted 15 goals in 45 European appearances. Yakubu has 13 goals from 40 games.