Sep 19 (Askume) – Everton boss Sean Dyche said ahead of Saturday’s Premier League match against Leicester CityFaced with a selection crisis once again , the list of potential replacements is long.
Victory at the King Power Stadium will be crucial at the start of the season for Dyche, who has faced the wrath of Everton fans after his side got off to a poor start and went top of the Premier League without scoring in four games.
Dyche said he only had 12 outfield players available for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie at Southampton, which they lost 6-5 on penalties, because of injuries.
Gerard Branthwaite, Nathan Patterson, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jack Harrison are recovering well and could return, while James Tarkowski could also play after a back injury.
However, James Garner, Seamus Coleman, Armando Broza and Michael Keane remained absent. Dyche admitted the situation was difficult and said the absences were different to anything he had seen before.
“We hope we will be able to bring some bodies back so that one day we can prepare properly,” Dyche told reporters on Thursday. “It’s a rare reality but still, I’ve never seen so many people injured in a situation like this and falling ill in such a short time.”
Everton, who finished 15th last season, look set to be relegation candidates.
Leicester City were relegated on the last day of the previous season, finishing two points behind Everton, they retained their 17th place and relegated Leicester City to the Championship.
