Marco Silva thinks Mason Holgate needs to improve in Everton training

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Everton defender Mason Holgate could be in line to start for the first time this season tonight.

Everton boss Marco Silva has told the Liverpool Echo that Mason Holgate can perform better in training.

Holgate was sent out on loan by Everton last season, and he impressed at West Bromwich Albion.

The youngster has now been promoted to third choice centre-back at Goodison Park, after Everton failed to sign a new central defender in the transfer window.

But Silva admits that he thinks that Holgate can push himself harder to improve.

“Mason is a player I am always pushing and a player everytime, I think, can do more than he is doing,” he said.

“Not because he doesn’t want to but it is up to me to push him more and more and more. About focus, about desire to win and improve every single day, to get better every single day because if he does that then he will be a better player, I have no doubts about that.”

Holgate has been forced to watch from the bench at Everton so far this season, as Yerry Mina and Michael Keane have become the first choice pairing in the Toffees’ defence.

Everton kept two clean sheets in their first two games, but they looked shaky in their last outing, as they fell to a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa.

That could present Holgate with a chance to stake a claim for a first-team place, especially as he is likely to start for Everton later this evening.

The Toffees are set to take on Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup and Holgate will surely get the nod to start for the first time this season in the contest.