Dele Alli, Andre Gomes, and Amadou Onana all out of Everton’s match against Manchester United.
Three first-team midfielders for Everton will be absent from Sunday’s Premier League match against Manchester United, according to Sean Dyche.
Amadou Onana will miss the match since he hasn’t trained this week and missed the international break due to a calf issue. Dele Alli and Andre Gomes are also out of the game even though they have returned to the field.
Despite Dyche’s indecision on his starting lineup, Michael Keane, Ben Godfrey, and Seamus Coleman are all fit to play after making appearances for the reserves in the middle of the week.
“Amadou [Onana]’s calf I don’t think will be right, it’s still sore,” he said. “Ben [Godfrey], Seamus [Coleman] and Keano all played in midweek and got minutes. Seamus come through that with no problem. I think when you’ve had a long-term injury, that 90 minutes is that final marker, so I certainly think he’ll be around it. He’s trained well.’
“Andre (Gomes) is back on the grass with us, which is good. He’s had a very frustrating season so far. He needs a bit of time – he needs games, obviously – but he’s back around it.
‘It’s good to see Dele (Alli) back on the grass. It’s tentative at the moment with the sports science side of things – as regards not joining in with us, but he’s joined in a couple of warm-ups – and he’s just feeling his way back in. Really pleasing if we can get him fit again.”
Losing Onana for the game is an absolutely huge blow for Everton, especially when we’re in the position we’re now in after our ten point deduction.
Having our best players fit has been a big reason for our excellent run of form in recent weeks, and Onana has found a perfect role in Dyche’s team that has seen his performances improve.
His energy and quality on the ball alongside his tackling and aggression have been excellent, and while Idrissa Gueye isn’t a bad fall-back option by any means there is still a decent gap in level between the two of them.
Aside from that we’re in a good place with our squad which is always good to hear after an international break, so hopefully Dyche can pick the right team to go and get all three points.
We need them desperately and with the fans likely to be right up for the game and the atmosphere at Goodison Park set to be electric, there will be no excuses for the players not to be fired up and raring to go too.