Everton are set to remain without wide pair Iliman Ndiaye and Dwight McNeil for the short trip across Stanley Park to face Liverpool in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday night.
Both players have been instrumental in scoring and providing goals for the Toffees this season, and they are now back in training after two months out for Ndiaye, and four months for McNeil, but this game is more than likely going to come too soon.
Ndiaye’s absence in particular has been noticeable for Everton, because despite winning at Crystal Palace in his first game out, the Toffees have not won any of the following four, drawing on each occasion, and looking significantly less threatening in the final third.
With Ndiaye and McNeil set to miss out, that means Carlos Alcaraz, Jesper Lindstrom and Jack Harrison will compete for the two wide starting berths, as Abdoulaye Doucoure, who was sent off in the reverse fixture, is likely to start behind the striker.
Manager David Moyes also has some concerns with injury in wide defensive areas, because Vitalii Mykolenko picked up a thigh injury while playing for Ukraine against Belgium last week, and even though the issue is not believed to be as bad as first feared, he is still a major doubt for this one.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin will miss out with a hamstring injury, but Everton’s attack has been bolstered by the return to fitness of Armando Broja, who played a part in both of Albania’s World Cup qualifiers last week, and will be in contention to provide competition to Beto.
Everton’s defence will need to be on form to keep Liverpool at bay, and Jarrad Branthwaite will be keen to prove his doubters wrong, especially England manager Thomas Tuchel, who snubbed him for the senior squad last week, and the youngster will partner James Tarkowski, who scored the dramatic last-gasp equaliser in the Goodison derby, at the back.
The man-in-form though is Jake O’Brien, who has slotted in perfectly out-of-position at right-back under Moyes, and scored important late equalisers against both Brentford and West Ham United recently, and standing at six-foot-six, will provide a big threat from set pieces.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Young; Alcaraz, Gueye, Garner, Doucoure, Harrison; Beto
Click here to see how Liverpool could line up for the second Merseyside derby of the season.
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