Yobo commits himself to Everton quest for success

The Everton defender Joseph Yobo has swept aside any doubts about his future by declaring that he has a responsibility to help the club claim silverware. Yobo has still not signed the new contract which has been on the table since last summer, but is expected to make a commitment to the club shortly.

He and his colleagues will be fighting for the one last target available to them on Sunday against relegated West Bromwich Albion, as they attempt to claim 10th spot and give Everton their first back-to-back top-half finishes since the Premier League began 14 years ago.

For a club which started the campaign in the Champions' League, that is clearly not good enough, and Yobo said: "I am disappointed that we are not going on to win something. Apart from that everything is great. The respect that I get here spurs me on and I realise that I have a responsibility to go on and push myself to help the team to achieve something."

Yobo insists that he retained the confidence of the manager, David Moyes, during a period of the season when he returned from the African Nations' Cup and could not dislodge David Weir and Alan Stubbs from the centre of defence.

He said: "The manager knows where I was coming from. And with or without injuries, he spoke to me and asked me to keep fit and wait for my time and that he was going to give me my chance soon. I was patiently waiting for my chance and he gave it to me."

Moyes is expected to make decisions about the futures of out-of-contract Weir and Stubbs after the final game of the season Yobo, 25, said: "Everton's central defensive partnership is one of the most solid positions that we've got. There's always very stiff competition among us."

Moyes confirmed that the young goalkeeper Iain Turner will start Sunday's match, after coming on as substitute last weekend at Sunderland after a knee injury to Richard Wright.

Everton have not confirmed speculation in Australia that midfielder Tim Cahill will return to training next week, after fears that he would not recover from a knee problem in time for the World Cup finals.