Everton bounced back with a rare away win against Bournemouth on Tuesday night, but more problems have landed at David Moyes’ feet.
Jack Grealish came up with the goods as his late goal secured the points to take back to Merseyside.
On the back of their dreadful showing on Saturday, Everton responded in the perfect way as they gave those travelling fans something to cheer about.
Moyes will have enjoyed the hearty performance down on the south coast, but he will be aware of his depleting squad options.
Tim Iroegbunam will miss Everton’s game against Nottingham Forest at the weekend following his fifth yellow card of the season.
Already missing Idrissa Gana Gueye through suspension and Merlin Rohl, this is going to leave Moyes with an interesting decision to make.
Bournemouth v Everton - Premier League
Photo by Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images
Everton need to get clever to replace Tim Iroegbunam
Tuesday’s starting XI saw a number of players playing in positions that were not exactly their natural ones.
James Garner started at right-back following the shock injury to Michael Keane, which saw Jake O’Brien fill-in at centre-back
MORE EVERTON STORIES
Use just one word to sum up this man’s performance vs Bournemouth!
Everton midfielder Tim Iroegbunam vs Bournemouth.
Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images
👇 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say
With no natural right-back fit, Garner may be stuck in the defence for the upcoming game against Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest.
Seamus Coleman remains out through injury following his issue at Old Trafford just the other week.
This may force Moyes into dropping a player like Carlos Alcaraz into the deeper-lying role alongside Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Moyes admitted Alcaraz and Dwight McNeil were midfield options in the absence of Gueye and they may be needed now.
What this may mean is that there could be a spot opening up in the three behind the striker, after Alcaraz occupied the number 10 role against Bournemouth.
And that could well offer someone like Tyler Dibling with an opportunity.
Tyler Dibling could take Everton opportunity against Nottingham Forest
If Alcaraz was to drop into the midfield role alongside Dewsbury-Hall, that may see Grealish or Iliman Ndiaye shift into the middle.
Dibling has had a quiet start to life at Everton following his big-money switch over the summer.
A tough start to life at Everton – Who could TFG have signed instead of Dibling for £40m? 💰
A overview of Tyler Dibling's 2025/26 Premier League stats for Everton.
Credit: Getty Images/Malcolm Couzens/
👇 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say
However, he will be confident that his time will come and the youngster could see his second start in the league on Saturday.
Tony Hibbert has urged Dibling to remain patient ahead of Ndiaye’s departure for the Africa Cup of Nations.
His opportunity may come even sooner than that on the back of Tuesday’s developments on the south coast.
What will be telling is whether, in this situation, Moyes would select Dibling or if he would play McNeil in the number 10 role and keep Grealish and Ndiaye out wide.
Join Our Newsletter
Receive a digest of our best Everton content each week direct to your mailbox