Everton physio Mick Rathbone has revealed Joseph Yobo was desperate to make it for Saturday's defeat at Reading.

Yobo missed the match due to a groin injury, but Rathbone revealed to evertonfc.com: "Joseph slipped in the first 30 seconds of the game (at Tottenham) and over stretched his groin. He played through the game and for Saturday it was down to the wire. He'd played the last 40 games and he didn't give up without a fight and full marks to him for playing 89 minutes (at Spurs).

"Joe's been fantastic, he really digs deep now, I'm not saying there were times when he didn't, but I think when you've been in the country for a while, you need to play in discomfort sometimes and we're fortunate that all our players accept that."