Apollon Limassol boss Sofronis Avgousti admits he has been surprised by Everton's woeful Europa League campaign ahead of their dead rubber in Nicosia.

The Toffees have taken just one point from their five Group E games, against Apollon at Goodison Park in September, and have conceded 15 times including a 5-1 trouncing at home to Atalanta last month.

Neither side playing at the GSP Stadium on Thursday evening can qualify for the last 32 and the fact Everton are out of the running prior to the final group contest has come as a shock to Avgousti.

'For sure we believed that Everton would go better in the group,' he said.

'It's a great historical team and we were expecting them to be higher in our group.'

With new Toffees manager Sam Allardyce having remained at home due to a pre-arranged medical appointment, stand-in bosses Craig Shakespeare and Duncan Ferguson are likely to select an inexperienced XI given Everton face Merseyside rivals Liverpool at Anfield three days later.

That means those Limassol fans who have made the near 50-mile trip for a 'home' game are unlikely to witness the likes of England's all-time top scorer Wayne Rooney or Everton's record signing Gylfi Sigurdsson.

However, Avgousti is mindful that those deployed by the visitors on Thursday night will still have points to prove to their absent boss.

'It's a shame that our fans will not be able to see those players playing in the field,' Avgousti added of Rooney and his fellow senior colleagues.

'But I'm sure the players who will replace them will show equally good quality in the game because they for sure will want to impress their new coach and they will want to show their good form.'