The 28-year-old admits he will be able to switch off from the build-up to Everton’s crunch clash with Liverpool on November 23 as the Three Lions take on Chile and Germany

Everton defender Leighton Baines admits his England duties will help take his mind off the forthcoming Merseyside derby.

The Goodison Park club host Liverpool on November 23, but Baines could feature in internationals against Chile and Germany before then.

And the 28-year-old believes the time away will prove a welcome distraction as anticipation builds ahead of the fixture.

“When a derby is coming up everyone gets excited and you just want to get out there and do it,” Baines told Everton’s official website.

“But we get to switch off from it to some extent because a lot of us go away for quite important games for our countries and hopefully we’ll come back together and get a good result.”

Meanwhile, fellow full-back Seamus Coleman, who is currently on international duty with the Republic of Ireland, revealed his excitement at taking on the club’s city rivals.

“It is a massive game and massive in terms of the table and we’re all looking forward to that,” he said.

“There is still the same excitement as my first one. Hopefully we can put on a good show.”

Everton currently sit sixth in the Premier League on 20 points, three adrift of Liverpool who are second.

The midfielder says the Uruguayan fully deserves to be in the running for the prestigious accolade, describing the forward as “one of the top four or five players in the world”

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has revealed that he voted for Luis Suarez as one of his three picks to win the Fifa Ballon d’Or award.

The Uruguayan currently sits alongside team-mate Daniel Sturridge and Sergio Aguero at the top of the Premier League scoring charts, with eight strikes to his name – even though he missed the first five games of the season through suspension.

The ban Suarez received for biting Branislav Ivanovic at the tail end of last season could count against him, as Fifa take conduct on and off the pitch into account, but Gerrard feels his team-mate’s talent is undeniable.

“I voted for him in my top three,” the 33-year-old midfielder told reporters.

“I think everyone knows how much I rate him, I think we are very lucky to have him and we have to enjoy him while he’s here.

“For me he is one of the top four or five players in the world, for sure.”

Gerrard, who was able to cast a vote as captain of England, admits he was unsure if he could vote for the forward.

He explained: “I asked if the rules can be that you can vote for one of your own players and they gave me the green light so he got one of my votes.”

The winner of the Ballon d’Or will be announced on 13 January, 2014, in a ceremony held in Zurich, Switzerland.

The midfielder says that he has not thought about what he will do after the tournament in Brazil, explaining that his sole focus is on getting past the quarter-finals

England captain Steven Gerrard says he dreams of making his country proud at next summer’s World Cup finals.

The Three Lions qualified for the tournament by finishing top of their group and the Liverpool legend feels that the challenge now is for Roy Hodgson’s men to get past the quarter-finals.

“The dream would be to come away from a tournament and everyone back home is proud of the team,” Gerrard told the Daily Mail.

“To be clapped home would be amazing. But it will only happen if we go past the quarter-final.

“For me the ambition is this: can I help get the team past a quarter-final? I haven’t really thought about what I will do after the World Cup. It is all about going to enjoy this World Cup.

“What an experience it will be in Brazil. I am absolutely delighted to help the team get there, it was a great achievement. But now the attention has to switch to: what can we do there?”

The Three Lions are currently preparing for friendlies against Chile, on Friday, and Germany, on Tuesday, with Gerrard aiming to add to his collection of caps.

“One hundred and seven caps isn’t bad for someone who isn’t ‘a top, top player’, is it?” he added, referring to remarks made by Sir Alex Ferguson in his recent autobiography.

“I never expected to get that amount of caps. When I made my debut, I set myself the personal target of trying to get 50 caps and score 10 goals if I could.

“So to have 107 is something I am really proud of, particularly being among those names.

“I’m not looking at [Peter] Shilton or [David] Beckham. Passing Bobby Moore would be the next one. To go past him, after everything he did, would be unbelievable.”