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Everton want to bounce back in the Premier League after losing to Chelsea, but one key player is absent from the club’s new training footage, in a potentially concerning development.
Everton saw their unbeaten record fall against Chelsea last weekend at Hill Dickinson Stadium and the performance was disappointing. Chelsea came with a vulnerable backline, but Everton didn’t really put it under that much pressure, with Pedro Neto scoring twice for the visitors.
The Toffees now have to try and bounce back against Arsenal who have made a near-perfect start to the 2026/27 campaign in the Premier League. They are second, having won six of their seven matches.
It will not be easy at all for Everton, who don’t have a good record at the Emirates Stadium.
And coming away with a result could be made even harder if Jarrad Branthwaite cannot play.
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I agree.
If we are not going to use them, put them in the under 21’s to give them some game time.
Jarrad Branthwaite absent from new Everton training footage
Everton have today released some new footage from training – and centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite does not appear once.
The England international has been an ever-present so far this season for the Toffees in the Premier League, which has actually come as a bit of a surprise to fans given his injury problems since he came to the club.
But Branthwaite seemingly hasn’t trained with his teammates so far this week, which will raise concerns about his potential to play at the weekend against the Gunners. The footage looks to have been taken on Tuesday, judging by Getty Image dates on photos, but only put out today.
It is, however, worth pointing out that Branthwaite didn’t appear in the training footage that was released before the Chelsea game, and he still played a full 90 minutes.
So potentially, it could be that Everton are just carefully managing Branthwaite and trying not to overload him. There has been a big effort to keep him fit this season after he suffered another hamstring injury at the back end of last season. Branthwaite only featured in a few of the club’s pre-season games, and has not played in any of the Carabao Cup matches so far in 2026/27.
And that has seemingly helped him to play every minute of Everton’s Premier League campaign so far.
David Moyes is due to speak at his pre-Arsenal press conference tomorrow and he might give an update on Branthwaite there.
Who should replace Branthwaite if he can’t play?
The two other centre-back options are Michael Keane and Jake O’Brien. Against Hull, it was Keane who got the nod to come in when Branthwaite played at left-back to cover Vitalii Mykolenko’s injury.
That suggested O’Brien is currently fourth in the centre-back pecking order, which will be disappointing for him.
But he has to play ahead of Keane against Arsenal if Branthwaite cannot play. He is simply a better centre-back and it’s high time Moyes gave him minutes in his actual position.
But Moyes might want to play O’Brien at right-back, given Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ dip in form of late. Leon Osman has predicted O’Brien will play at right-back, and given the physicality of Arsenal, it’s not out of the question he could play there with Keane in the middle.
Interestingly, Keane is another player who cannot be seen in the training footage. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a doubt for the weekend. But if he and Branthwaite are both unavailable, then that will finally give O’Brien his chance in the middle.