Blues buoyed by trio's return to fitness

Lyndon Lloyd Thursday, 13 October, 2016 12comments | Jump to most recent

Everton have been boosted ahead of their trip to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday by the news that Phil Jagielka, Romelu Lukaku and Leighton Baines are all expected to be fit to face Manchester City.

Jagielka was forced to withdraw from the England squad because of a minor thigh injury and Lukaku missed Belgium's win over Gibraltar on Monday with a similar problem but Ronald Koeman told the media at his pre-match press conference today that both will be ready for the weekend.

Baines, meanwhile, has overcome a slight hamstring strain which precluded his involvement against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace over the past three weeks and is set to resume duty at left back.

Koeman expressed doubts over McCarthy's readiness, however, describing the midfielder as having been “massively overloaded” by playing almost two full games for Ireland on the back of groin surgery and just three training sessions.

“We will have to make a decision tomorrow (Friday) to see if he's really fit to be part of the team.”

Aaron Lennon, meanwhile, is also rated as doubtful, presumably because of an knock sustained in training.

There is better news for Darron Gibson, at least for the time being. The Irishman underwent a similar operation on his groin to McCarthy's surgery and was on a similar timeline for recovery. He resumed full training over the international break and he will be hoping to finally get a period free of injury under his belt after a stop-start career at Goodison Park.

Reader Comments (12)

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Paul Conway
1 Posted 13/10/2016 at 18:14:01

Great news! All we need now is for the flash-in-the-pan Fancy Dans to ''turn up''!

Alan Bodell
2 Posted 13/10/2016 at 18:46:52

Oh, there's Lukaku ecstatic at Leighton scoring a pen; maybe he can learn how to take one.

Craig Fletcher
3 Posted 13/10/2016 at 18:48:38

Great news.

Tim Greeley
4 Posted 13/10/2016 at 19:32:37

It feels like Everton haven't played in goddamn forever!

Not too psyched about the opponents or venue, but can't wait for Saturday. Someone better punch Stones right in the pebbles.

Chris Gould
5 Posted 13/10/2016 at 19:48:39

At least Spurs have shown that they can be beaten.

Everyone will need to be at full fitness and at the top of their game for us to get anything out of this. We will need some gargantuan performances from several players and solid performances from the rest.

Alan Bodell
6 Posted 13/10/2016 at 20:39:56

Gonna be especially interesting to see Lukaku up against Stones and I really hope our man gets the better because it will be highlighted by this match up.

Nigel Munford
7 Posted 13/10/2016 at 21:03:57

Just need to pressure Stones when he's on the ball. He'll make mistakes.

Brian Cleveland
8 Posted 13/10/2016 at 21:29:51

...or allow him a back-pass to the keeper and then pile in, because Bravo looks well dodgy and a real risk taker when he gets it at his feet, real heart in the mouth moments!

Joe O'Brien
9 Posted 13/10/2016 at 22:45:15

Brilliant news. Equally very important, Baines to get at their full backs. Rom is on form and Jags looks like he's forming a good partnership with Williams. Our attacking full backs are going to be key in this match. Tear into them the way Celtic did, they don't like it one bit.

Peter Murray
10 Posted 13/10/2016 at 23:49:10

Something a bit strange here. Was pressure successfully put on England and Belgium to leave out Jags and Lukaku?

(The injuries were only "minor"and "slight") but failed with Ireland in relation to McCarthy? Having recently had surgery, it was amazing he was even considered never mind being "overloaded".

Abhishek Saha
11 Posted 14/10/2016 at 04:16:01

Saw Koeman speaking at the pre-match press conference; he confirmed the fitness of Jags, Baines and Rom as if it was a no brainer... "Yes, all fit", that's all he had to say about it.

Abhishek Saha
12 Posted 14/10/2016 at 04:18:52

Stekelenburg
Coleman Jagielka Williams Baines
Gana Barry
Bolasie Barkley Mirallas
Lukaku

(Should be no surprises there)

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