Cahill´s looming absence ´a worry´ for Everton

Everton and England defender Phil Jagielka is backing Tim Cahill to leave the club in a safe position before he links up with Australia for the 2011 Asian Cup.

Cahill has been one of the few positives in a disappointing first half to the English Premier League season for Everton.

Instead of building on four successive top-eight finishes, the Merseyside club are at the wrong end of the table and start Saturday’s home match with relegation candidates Wigan just two points above the bottom three.

Yet midfielder Cahill has been in sparkling form, scoring eight of his team’s 18 league goals, and manager David Moyes has admitted he will be badly missed when he departs next month.

The 31-year-old Sydney-born player is set to miss three league games, including the Merseyside derby at Liverpool on January 16, and, if Everton overcome Scunthorpe in the third round, two FA Cup ties while he is away with Australia in Qatar.

Cahill’s absence is a major blow to Everton, but Jagielka is confident the former Millwall man can continue his scoring burst before he departs for the Middle East.

“Luckily for us Tim has done really well and kept us going with his goals, but we are all frustrated,” said Jagielka, capped seven times by England.

“Hopefully he gets all of his goals out of his system before he goes.

“But we can?t look too far into the future and worry about January — the present is what we need to focus on.

“We can just hope that when he comes back he is rejuvenated as ever, has his spark and picks up again where he’ll leave off.”

Jagielka is urging his Everton team-mates to build on their encouraging performance against champions Chelsea last week when they entertain Wigan at Goodison Park.

Moyes’s inconsistent side came away from Stamford Bridge with a hard-earned point after Jermaine Beckford’s third goal of the season cancelled out Didier Drogba’s first-half penalty.

In addition to defeating Liverpool, Everton have also drawn with Manchester United and Tottenham yet have lost to the likes of Blackburn, Aston Villa, Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion.

They start the weekend seeking a first win in seven and are looking to avoid a third successive home defeat.

“It’s the story of our season,” added Jagielka. “We’ve beaten Liverpool, drawn with Man United, drawn with Chelsea.

“We do well against the bigger teams when we’re the underdogs. But then we come unstuck against the teams we know we should beat.

“We know where we’re going wrong, we know we need to come out of the traps well on Saturday and play with the passion we did at Stamford Bridge.”

Like Everton, Wigan have also struggled this season and arrive at Goodison on the back of four defeats in six outings.

But Roberto Martinez’s side, who will be without young winger Victor Moses because of a dislocated shoulder, have the incentive of going above their hosts if they carve out a rare away win.

“You look at the table and three points makes a huge difference,” said Martinez, whose Wigan side start the weekend in 18th spot.

“But I would not use the table at the moment to assess a team I really respect like Everton,” the Spaniard added.

“The expectations on them are higher, but in the same way they are a club that know how to grow and they always finish the season really strongly.

“We need to fulfil our potential and show what we can do.”