Everton's Tim Howard encouraged by Conor McAleny debut

McAleny signed a one-year deal at Goodison Park in June

Everton keeper Tim Howard hopes young striker Conor McAleny can grasp his opportunity in the Blues' first team.

The 19-year-old academy graduate made his debut in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

"He's been looking for his chance and he can feel it coming along," Howard told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"We've all got a lot of confidence in him to fashion his own chances. He looks the part at the moment and hopefully that continues."

Howard added: "We get the opportunity to see Conor in training on a regular basis and he's really been at it. He's got the bit between the teeth."

Everton have suffered two successive Premier League defeats against Stoke and Arsenal, which leaves David Moyes' side 12th in the table.

Howard believes his team-mates have to keep faith in each other and remain confident in how they are playing.

"We've got to keep our heads up and we've got to keep going," Howard continued. "The season doesn't end for us tomorrow just because we're down a little bit.

"We've got to keep going because we've got a lot of games. We hope if we can put enough performances together we'll start to get some points."