LIVERPOOL -- Everton defender Leighton Baines insists that Europa League football is a bonus for the club this season.
The Toffees' fixture list has been disrupted this season by the demands of playing European games on Thursday nights, with their Premier League matches regularly moved to Sundays as a result.
Their former boss David Moyes, who led the club's last Europa League campaign in 2009-10, spoke more than once of the difficulties of playing on Thursdays and Sundays.
But Baines, a part of that Everton squad five seasons ago, feels the club -- now managed by Roberto Martinez -- can cope with European and domestic football.
He said: "The more regularly you play football, the more it will benefit you. Playing in Europe has definitely been a good bonus for us this season.
"I've enjoyed being a part of that, and it stands us in good stead on the international stage as well.
"It gives the manager the assurances that you can play at that level, and we have enjoyed being a part of the competition."
Everton lead Europa League Group H as they prepare to host Lille on Thursday evening, and Baines is keen to make progress in the competition.
They reached the last-16 in 2008 before going out to Fiorentina on penalties, and were eliminated at the last-32 stage by Sporting Lisbon in 2010.
Baines, 29, feels Everton have a stronger squad than they had on that last European adventure, and is hopeful of further progress.
"It's a really long competition, so we don't want to look too far ahead, but we are excited by where we are at the moment," Baines said.
"We'll look to consolidate our position in the group with a good result against Lille. And there are some really exciting ties if you can get out of the group.
"I think we may be better equipped with the strength in depth that we've got. We're also probably in a tougher group than we've been in before.
"We've got ourselves into a good position, with that in mind, and we've got two of the last three games to play at Goodison, where we'll expect to win. We're happy with the position we're in."
Martinez suggested at a news conference on Wednesday that Baines and teammate Seamus Coleman are the best full-back pairing in world football.
The manager has said recently that the England international is in the best form of his career.
Baines said: "It's always difficult to judge that. But I'm certainly enjoying my football at the moment. We've picked up our form as a team, and we're getting back to the standards we've set ourselves previously.
"Seamus and I are both players who like to get forward and contribute to what we do offensively as well as defensively.
"Seamus has scored a few goals in the last 12 months, and I've managed to set up a couple of them as well.
"If things like that come about and we can get our full-backs setting up and scoring goals, that's only going to help the team."