Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Everton could line up for their trip to Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday.
Everton manager Sean Dyche has confirmed he will make a late decision about whether Jarrad Branthwaite will feature against Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday.
Branthwaite missed Everton’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle before the international break, just one game after he had made a return following three months out, having undergone surgery over the summer.
A thigh issue is what kept him out of their last outing, and Dyche said in his pre-match press conference that he will continue to be examined ahead of the match.
With Branthwaite’s fitness not clear cut, Dyche was able to confirm that full-back pairing Seamus Coleman and Vitalii Mykolenko are fit again after some time on the sidelines.
Full-back has been a problem position for Everton this season, as James Garner was forced to fill on the right-hand side of defence for the draw with the Magpies, and Ashley Young on the left.
Just as Everton welcome two options back into the fold though, Garner will now miss out after sustaining a back injury during the international break.
As a natural midfielder, Everton have lost another option in that area of the pitch as well as Garner too, with Dyche confirming that Tim Iroegbunam will be out for a few weeks with a foot injury.
That leaves Dyche with Abdoulaye Doucoure, Idrissa Gueye and Orel Mangala to choose from in the centre, and the latter two both have plenty of minutes in their legs after playing twice for Senegal and Belgium during the break.
Gueye’s Senegal teammate Iliman Ndiaye was a huge injury worry during the break, after he limped off in their win over Malawi, but he swiftly recovered and came off the bench in the return game a few days later, as Everton fans breathed a huge sigh of relief in keeping one of their key players fit.
Ndiaye has dazzled in an attacking sense so far, and scored in Everton’s last away outing, but one remarkable stat came out regarding the Toffees’ number 10 after the draw with Newcastle.
After keeping Bruno Guimaraes‘s shot out on the line, Ndiaye made his third goal-line clearance in just his fifth start of the season – the only player in the division with more than one, and the most by any Everton player in a single season since records began.
One player whose recent performances will be a slight concern is goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who seemed to return to form when saving an Anthony Gordon penalty last time out, but an error-laden performance for England saw him dropped for their second fixture last week.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Everton remain without Armando Broja and Youssef Chermiti in attack, but backup striker Beto got some much-needed minutes over the break after switching allegiance from Portugal to Guinea-Bissau.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Gueye, Doucoure; Harrison, McNeil, Ndiaye; Calvert-Lewin
Click here to see how Ipswich could line up for this important Premier League clash.
No Data Analysis info