Everton‘s fixture with Ipswich Town at Goodison Park in the Premier League on Saturday is set to come just too soon for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to make a comeback, after he returned to first-team training this week.
Calvert-Lewin has been absent since January after sustaining a hamstring injury in the win away to Brighton & Hove Albion, and he has since seen Beto come into the side and race ahead of him in the club’s goalscoring charts.
However, manager David Moyes could be keen to get Calvert-Lewin back into the side, even though he is out of contract in the summer, after he publicly criticised Beto following the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea last weekend.
Beto started as Armando Broja was ineligible against his parent club, and the Guinea-Bissau international lost possession prior to Chelsea’s goal, leading Moyes to call for better from the striker in holding the ball up.
Broja has not pulled up any trees since moving on loan in August, so Beto is set to start again, with Calvert-Lewin’s injury record making it clear he cannot be rushed back.
Iliman Ndiaye is still easing himself back to full fitness after a recent knee injury too, and he is one shy of reaching double digits for goals in his debut season at Everton, and one of those strikes came in the reverse fixture back in October.
Dwight McNeil has also been recovering from a knee injury over the past few months, and is yet to start since making his comeback from a four-month layoff, with Jack Harrison set to get the nod again, with Jesper Lindstrom out for the season.
The biggest miss for the hosts will be defender James Tarkowski though, who missed a Premier League match with Everton for the first time last weekend, after sustaining a season-ending hamstring injury in the defeat to Manchester City two weeks ago.
Jake O’Brien moved from right-back into the centre to partner Jarrad Branthwaite at Stamford Bridge, and those two are set to be the pairing at the back for the rest of the season, with a new option now needed at right-back.
Nathan Patterson got the nod away to Chelsea last week, but struggled greatly, so veteran Ashley Young is in line to start, despite Seamus Coleman being back to full fitness in potentially his last season as a professional player.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Young, O’Brien, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Harrison, Gueye, Garner, Doucoure, Ndiaye; Beto
Click here to see how Ipswich could line up on Saturday.
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