Toffees debut excites Naismith

Steven Naismith: Aiming for a starting place against Manchester United on Monday night

New Everton signing Steven Naismith says he cannot wait to make his Premier League debut against Manchester United on Monday night.

The Scotland international joined the Toffees on a free transfer from Rangers in July and hopes he has impressed boss David Moyes enough during pre-season to be handed a starting berth for the season opener at Goodison Park.

The forward, 25, netted a hat-trick on his first Goodison appearance in last week's friendly win against Greek side AEK Athens.

Now Naismith, who suffered a cruciate ligament injury last October, feels he is ready to make his English top-flight bow.

"I am looking forward to it." he said. "I have had a good pre-season and all that hard work is going to be put into practise.

"Hopefully with what I have done in pre-season and what I do in training in the next few days, I can show the manager that I am capable of starting."