Everton midfielder James McCarthy has insisted that Crystal Palace will provide tough opposition when the teams meet in the Premier League this weekend.

The Merseysiders travel to Selhurst Park on Saturday to face the league's bottom-placed side.

Despite Palace's troubles so far this season, McCarthy expects a difficult encounter in the capital.

"It's a tough place to go and it's not going to be easy," he told Everton's official website. "They are looking to get a new manager and improve all the time but we will have a right go at it.

"Crystal Palace will come at us and we will work on that this week but we need to go there and try to get three points on the board."

Everton head into the match in seventh place in the table with just one defeat from their opening 10 matches.