Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard believes the upcoming Barclays Asia Trophy in Singapore will be ideal for their pre-season preparations because of the quality of the opposition involved.
The 36-year-old American custodian is preparing for his 10th pre-season at Goodison Park, having joined initially on a season-long loan from Manchester United in summer 2006 before making the move permanent.
Boss Roberto Martinez has already bolstered the Toffees’ squad with the signings of Tom Cleverley and Gerard Deulofeu as he looks to improve on last season’s 11th place finish in the Premier League.
The team were hampered by the extra games that playing in the Europa League brings and the challenge is to get back amongst the challengers for a top-four finish now they only have domestic action to focus on in 2015-16.
Everton will prepare for the season by featuring in the Barclays Asia Trophy alongside Stoke City and possibly Arsenal, or a Singapore Select XI.
And Howard told the Premier League’s official website: “The better sparring partner you can have the better you will be prepared and that will help us. If you get those two/three matches under our belt, soon after that the Premier League starts early this year so we can feel like we are weathered and seasoned a bit.
“It will be good for us to play in a major pre-season tournament because it gives a feel of the Premier League as opposed to pre-season games that have a lull and don’t always live up to the expectation.
“As a player you train hard in the pre-season.
“You do lots of running and exercises. So it’s good to get your reward and get out to a big stadium and have that feel.”
Everton start the new Premier League season with a home clash against newly-promoted Watford and they are 1.73 to win. The Hornets are 4.75 to come out on top.
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