An initial X-ray taken shortly after the incident revealed there was no fracture but the club’s medical staff are taking no chances over the Belgian’s fitness.

Everton will be encouraged by their 3-3 draw at Chelsea in December, and having also earned a point at Arsenal last month, Phil Neville believes they should have nothing to fear against Carlo Ancelotti’s side tomorrow night.

“I don’t think we should be frightened of anyone at the moment,” said the skipper. “We’re playing well, we’re full of confidence, and we’ve got a lot of players back fit and ready to play in the big games.

“Let’s look forward to them and not be fearful of them. We need to lick our wounds now, and get back to the training ground and look forward to Wednesday night.”

Neville also echoed Distin’s comments and reckons tomorrow’s game is an opportunity for Everton to demonstrate their progress over recent months.

“You’ve got to pick yourself up and get on with it,” he said. “You’ve got to raise yourself for another massive game at Goodison on Wednesday night.

“Games are coming thick and fast at the moment and we can’t be feeling sorry for ourselves and we’ve got to produce the same level of performance.

“We’ve been showing an outstanding level of performance in the Premier League and we can take a lot of positives on the run that we’ve been on. We’ve got a strong squad now, and one that is looking forward to the next month and playing in all these big games, because that what we play football for.”