Gareth Barry has accepted the Europa League represents Everton’s best hope of qualifying for European football next season and admitted a sense of anxiety has crept into of the club’s recent league performances, especially at home.

Everton are ostensibly the best-placed English club to reach the last 16 of the Europa League when they entertain Young Boys of Bernon Thursday with a 4-1 advantage from the away leg, yet Barry knows they dropped more domestic points at home in a 2-2 draw with Leicester City on Sunday after leading.

“Realistically the best hope we’ve got for a successful end to the season is to try to win the Europa competition because that would bring a Champions League place,” Barry said. “That is a massive target to aim at. There’s no reason why we can’t go all the way because we seem to be able to play without pressure in Europe. It is hard to put a finger on why that is the case but for whatever reason we have not been able to put a run of results together in the league – our points total is not where we want it to be. That creates a sense of anxiety that can creep into your play, but it is down to us to put it right,” the midfielder said. “We scored the first goal at home against Leicester and we should have been strong enough to see the match out from there.”

When Barry was at Aston Villa the club decided to make the league the priority and it backfired. After departing Europe through sending a weakened team to CSKA Moscow in 2009, when the second-tier competition was still the Uefa Cup, Martin O’Neill’s side lost confidence and failed in their bid for a top-four finish at home. “We ended up missing out on both targets, but we won’t be making the same mistake here,” Barry said. “The manager has made it clear from day one that whatever happens we want to try and win our European matches.”

Roberto Martínez has confirmed Tim Howard will start against Young Boys despite the goalkeeper’s costly mistakes against Leicester. “After coming back from injury Tim needs all the games he can get,” the Everton manager said. “He’s a very experienced player, still the perfect age for a goalkeeper, and experience is exactly what you need in a European game.

“When you have such a reliable character as Tim in your squad the best thing to do is let him get on with his job, then you can build for the future. If you look at the three performances since he came back, taking in the games against Chelsea and Young Boys as well as the one against Leicester, I don’t think there is an issue with his goalkeeping.

“We cannot afford to be complacent against Young Boys. We might have a healthy lead but they did very well against Basel in their last game and Basel are having a great season. We need to treat the game and our opponents with respect.”

Everton (4-2-3-1, probable): Howard; Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Barry, McCarthy; Osman, Naismith, Mirallas; Lukaku.

Young Boys (4-2-3-1, probable): Mvojo; Hadergjonaj, Vilotic, Von Bergen, Lecjaks; Sanogo, Gajic; Steffen, Gerndt, Nuzzolo; Hoarau.

Referee S Johannesson (Swe)

ITV, kick-off 8.05pm