Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna says claiming a first Premier League win of the season against Everton at Portman Road tomorrow (3pm) would be a boost, but says the lack of a victory up to now isn't viewed as too much of a burden.

The Blues return to action after the season's second international break, 17th in the table, having picked up four points from their previous seven matches, from successive draws prior to the 4-1 loss at West Ham a fortnight ago.

Everton are one place and one point ahead in 16th, having won once, a 2-1 success at home to Crystal Palace three weeks ago.

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna feels their lack of a victory is not overburdening his squad ahead of hosting Everton Picture: Phil Ham Asked whether a win this weekend would provide a lift and get a monkey off everyone at the training ground's back, McKenna said: "I think it would be a boost in terms of the three points, but I don't think it's a monkey on the back at the training ground, to be honest.

"Look, we've got four points out of the fixtures that we had and we've got results in four of the games.

"If we had won one of the games, drew one of the games and got battered in the other five, we'd still have four points.

"If we had won two of the games and got battered in the other five, we'd have a couple more points, which, of course, we'd rather have the points, but would it really signify the development of the team, the journey that we're on, how we're going to finish the season? I'm not sure it would.

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna at his pre-match press conference ahead of Everton Picture: Phil Ham "So yes, getting the first win, of course, will be a boost, especially for the supporters when the club's been out of the Premier League for so long, and we know it's going to be brilliant when we do win our first game.

"But I think the seven games, the challenges that we've had with the step up and all the different things around building, a new squad, for me we've performed well in most of the games.

"There are things we can improve on, but we've got results in four of the games, which is a positive.

"On another day, we could have turned one or two of those into a win, but I don't think it would massively change our perspective of where we're at or the mood around the training ground.

"At the moment, everyone's really positive and everyone's looking forward to the games ahead."

McKenna says the international break, during which time a Blues XI drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace at the Eagles' training ground, didn't give too much of an opportunity to work on things he would want to address from the defeat at West Ham with his first XI.

"I don't think it's necessarily on the pitch during the international break because most of our players haven't been here, that's the truth of it, but we've worked well with those who have been here," he said.

"As a group, the thing that we can take from the West Ham game is that I think they were the most direct team that we've played.

"I think they utilised that really well, they played up to [Michail] Antonio really well and played over our press really well, and they were more dominant than us in first and second balls, and Everton have some of the same strengths.

"They obviously play to [Dominic] Calvert-Lewin as one of their strategies pretty early in their attacks and they do it very well, and he's in good form, so there are elements like that that we know we're going to have to do well in the game.

"But other than that, again, there are big positives we've had in every game, there are certainly big positives in our home games.

"It feels a long time since the Aston Villa one, but it's up to us now, primarily myself, the staff and the players, but also the supporters have had such a fantastic part of it that hopefully they will again tomorrow in terms of creating the big big atmosphere that lifts our players and makes it a tough stadium to play in, and that's what we're going to have to try and do again tomorrow.

"It's a completely different type of opponent than Aston Villa, but one that is also very, very strong and we're looking forward to taking that challenge on."

McKenna is clear where Everton are most dangerous: "I think their front four is in really good form and you can see the variety of attacks that they have.

"They can go to Calvert-Lewin early, they can go into him into the space in behind, he's in good form.

"[Iliman] Ndiaye has started ever so well for them, and [Jack] Harrison and [Dwight] McNeil have both got a lot of quality, both can score outside the box.

"I don't think they have to do an awful lot in terms of team play to score a goal. I think they've got a good set-up that gets players in positions and they can score goals from not very much.

"And that's why they've probably gone away from home to the likes of Aston Villa and been able to score a lot of goals, and that's without talking about set plays, which are a big threat on.

"We know they're a strong team, they've got vast Premier League experience and quality on their side, but we also back ourselves at home to be a tough opponent and to impose ourselves for chunks of the game and be a threat to the opposition, and that's what we're going to have to do.

"We're going to have to respect their threats, we've prepared as well as we can in the very, very short space of time that we've had, and now we'll look forward to the game, and we'll go and try and bring our best and see where it gets us."