Everton and Nottingham Forest do battle at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.placeholder image
Everton and Nottingham Forest do battle at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday. | Getty Images
All the early team injury news as Everton prepare to host Nottingham Forest on Saturday
Everton host Nottingham Forest at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday and will hope to continue the solid form which has seen the Toffees rise into the top half of the Premier League table in recent weeks.
David Moyes’ side have won tough away games at Manchester United and Bournemouth, both by a single goal to nil, with Jack Grealish scoring the late decider on Tuesday night on the south coast. But the two victories were sandwiched by a 4-1 thumping by Newcastle United in Merseyside, proving that the Blues still have some adjustment to their new stadium left to make.
The Toffees will hope for a better home performance on Saturday, as Sean Dyche’s Forest come to town. The Tricky Trees have risen out of the bottom three since their third manager of the season came in, and won 3-0 at Anfield on their last trip to Merseyside. Both teams will be without a significant number of players for the encounter.
Everton early injury news ahead of Forest clash
Everton will be without at least five players on Saturday, amidst injury and suspension issues for Moyes’ men. Jarrad Branthwaite remains out with a hamstring injury and there are no signs of him returning to action just yet, while Merlin Rohl recently had a hernia operation and is unlikely to be back before January, as Moyes revealed last week.
Michael Keane is a doubt and could be a big miss for the Toffees, after sitting out the victory at Bournemouth. Moyes stated on his absence: “He had a little bit of an injury going into the Newcastle game and played but, unfortunately, he couldn’t make this one, so we’ve had to make a change. We don’t know [how long he’ll be out]. We hope he might [recover] quite quickly.”
Nathan Patterson also has a foot issue and is still working his way back to full fitness, meaning he is likely to remain out for this one. Meanwhile, Seamus Coleman picked up a “small” hamstring injury at Old Trafford and will be a doubt for the weekend.
Nottingham Forest injury news ahead of Everton trip
Forest could be without as many as nine players through injury this weekend, as Dyche continues to contend with a substantial list of players on the treatment table – though he revealed in his press conference on Monday that several stars are edging towards fitness.
All of Ola Aina (hamstring), Chris Wood (knee), Douglas Luiz, Taiwo Awoniyi and Angus Gunn will remain out, though the former Everton manager expressed a desire for four other stars to return to contention against Wolves on Wednesday night.
Those players in question included key men Murillo, who is recovering from a virus, and Morgan Gibbs-White, who has picked up a knock but will hopefully be passed fit to feature in midweek. Dilane Bakwa and Oleksandr Zinchenko are “back on the grass” in training according to Dyche and are aiming to be back to face either Wolves or Everton.
Considering the fact that Forest still have a high-stakes relegation encounter to come prior to their next trip to Merseyside, the injury concerns facing Dyche will become clearer in the coming days.
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