David Unsworth has said he is keen to prove himself worthy of becoming full-time manager of Everton after taking interim charge of the Premier League club following the sacking of Ronald Koeman.
Unsworth, 44, will be in the dugout for Wednesday's intimidating trip to champions Chelsea in the last-16 of the League Cup.
Unsworth is a firm favourite with the fans having served the club with distinction as a player, making 350 appearances during two spells at Goodison Park.
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He gained kudos as a coach by guiding the Under-23 side to the Premier League 2 title last season.
Unsworth has taken charge of a first-team Everton game before. He took charge of their final league game of the 2015/16 campaign after Roberto Martinez was fired.
"I'm a very proud man sat here preparing to lead Everton out tomorrow," he told the media at the pre-match press conference that combined as his intorduction.
"It doesn't matter how many games I have, I'll give it everything I've got.I spent the afternoon with the chairman yesterday and we spoke everything Everton. I'll repeat myself from last time I sat here 18 months ago, who wouldn't want this job?
"The chairman has given me an opportunity to hopefully get a run of games where hopefully performance levels go up. From that, performances will dictate any future for me as Everton manager. I want to manage and this is an amazing club to be manager of. I make no secret of it."
Koeman was sacked on Monday after a disastrous start to the season. It reached its nadir with a 5-2 thrashing at home to Arsenal on Sunday, which left them mired in the bottom three.
It is a far cry from the optimism that surrounded the club at the start of the campaign, following an off-season that saw the club spend £144 million (Dh694m) on players.
Koeman for his part thanked the board for allowing him to take charge of a "great club".
"I would like to place on record my thanks to the players and staff for all their work and commitment during my 16 months as Everton manager," Koeman wrote on Twitter.
"Naturally I am disappointed at this moment but I wish the team good luck in the future."
Unsworth, who made one international appearance for England, could be in charge for several matches leading up to the international break in two weeks time.
Everton have Premier League matches with Leicester City and in-form Watford to come with a trip to French side Lyon in the Europa League in between. Everton are bottom of their Europa League group after three games p
