The Australia midfielder scored the only goal in the win over Wigan at the weekend, only his sixth of the season but his third in the last half-dozen matches.

In recent weeks Cahill has carried the team through their injury crisis - and captained it in the absence of Neville but now the Toffees skipper is back he believes the midfielder will have more freedom.

"Tim's a top player and his infectiousness around the place is second to none," said Neville.

"With players coming back and the team playing a little bit better, it's given Tim more energy and more spark and he can concentrate on what he does best and that's scoring.

"Everyone knows when we were going through the bad run and we had players injured, he was playing deep midfield, right midfield, left midfield, anything but his best position and he just got on with it.

"Now he's back in his best position and him and Louis (Saha) look like they're a potent partnership."

Everton are up to ninth in the Barclays Premier League after an eight-match unbeaten run but having been knocked out of the FA Cup by Birmingham just over a week ago Neville has warned against complacency.

"The Birmingham game knocked the stuffing out of us because nobody saw that coming at all," the former Manchester United defender told the Liverpool Echo.

"I think it was maybe the kick up the backside we needed because we thought we possibly just had to turn up for that game.

"It reminded us we are not quite there yet, and we're still not but we're going in the right direction."