Benfica 5 - 0 Everton

Jesus foresees entertaining encounter

Updated: October 21, 2009, 7:45 PM UK

Benfica boss Jorge Jesus is preparing for a flurry of goals at the Estadio da Luz when his team face Everton in the Europa League.

Everton have won both of their Group I matches to emerge as the early leaders, however Benfica can join them on six points by making the best of home advantage.

Jesus knows Everton are proving prolific scorers in Europe, with a 4-0 win over AEK Athens followed by a 2-1 victory against BATE Borisov.

Jesus said: "Everton will certainly play to win, so it will be a game with many goals. I hope they are mostly in favour of Benfica.''

Striker Javier Saviola is also optimistic about the prospects for the Portuguese giants.

"Benfica can do big things in Europe,'' he said.

"Everton are a difficult and tough team. We know that if we are not concentrated they will create problems for us.

"We are confident and know the importance of this match.''

Everton manager David Moyes has shrugged off the loss of 10 players with a rousing declaration of the club's spirit.

Moyes believes a never-say-die attitude will serve them well in this Group I game.

Joseph Yobo and Leon Osman are the latest absentees with head and ankle injuries that prevented them travelling to Portugal.

They have joined Steven Pienaar, Phil Neville, Phil Jagielka, Mikel Arteta, Victor Anichebe and James Vaughan in the treatment room.

If that was not enough, Lucas Neill and John Heitinga are ineligible to face one of football's most famous names.

Asked if he felt had enough quality in the squad to get the job done, Moyes said: "Yes, it is part of what we do at Everton.

"You look over the course of a season we have to fight very hard in the Premier League.

"The last two years we have finished fifth. So we have some consistency. Part of that has been our quality to never give in an I am sure the players will do that again.''

Everton are in a similar situation to their last outing in Belarus when they were down in numbers but battled back to beat BATE Borisov.

Moyes said: "At the moment we have done our job by winning the first two games. We will certainly have to win at least another one to make sure we qualify.

"The European games have helped us improve. The run we had two years ago when we lost to Fiorentina on penalty kicks showed that improvement.

"We go into all games trying to win but it is fair to suggest we might be happy coming to Benfica and taking a point.''