England displays have helped my Everton form, claims Barkley

Everton midfielder Ross Barkley feels his impressive showings for Everton of late are partly down to his positive displays while on international duty with England.

Barkley was the standout performer for Roy Hodgson’s side as they rounded off a perfect qualification campaign with 10 wins from 10 – the 21-year-old assisting and scoring against Estonia and Lithuania respectively.

Barkley has since been bright in the defeats against Manchester United and Arsenal – scoring in the latter – something he puts down to his form for England.

“I took a lot of confidence from the England games. Playing for your country is a dream for any player,” he is quoted as saying by The Mirror.

“I took my club form into the England games and from there tried to take my form back to the club. As a young player, you need all the experience you can get and I’m getting it.”

Everton turn their attentions to the League Cup on Tuesday and a visit from fellow Premier League side Norwich City in the fourth round.

Having failed to get past this round of the competition in their last seven attempts, Barkley is keen to challenge and deliver a first trophy to Goodison Park since the FA Cup in 1995.

“It’s our aim to win something. We haven’t won anything for a while,” he added.

“We’ve had a few good results in this competition and hopefully we can get the result we need against Norwich to put us through to the next round.

“It’s about getting it going and getting the crowd behind us. Our main focus is to go into that game lively and get a few goals, maybe in the first half to get ourselves a bit of confidence.”