It has been an up-and-down few weeks for Rodwell and Everton, with victories over Manchester United and Chelsea balanced out by their exit from the Europa League at the hands of Sporting Lisbon and defeat by Tottenham.

Everton have largely been on an upward spiral after a difficult start to the season and, with key players such as Mikel Arteta and Phil Jagielka returning from long-term injury, Rodwell is hopeful they can qualify for Europe.

He said: “We’re doing well at the moment. We’ve beaten the big teams but I think it’s time to start beating teams that are pushing for Europe. We had a tough game against Tottenham, I think we should have got three points there. Games like that we need to win. We’ve got Hull on Sunday so if we can pick up three points in these types of games I think we’ve got a good chance.

“There’s been a lot of injuries. We don’t want to make excuses but we started off slow and we’re starting to pick it up now when they’ve come back.”

Rodwell has played in almost 30 games this season. He added: “It’s maybe come about through other people’s misfortunes, like injuries and things, but I’d like to believe, even if they were fit, I’d have played anyway.”