Everton look set to be without the services of Abdoulaye Doucouré for a further spell of games after Sean Dyche reported that the Frenchman has suffered another hamstring injury.
Doucouré missed five games recently, but returned to play the full 90 minutes of last Sunday’s goalless draw with Aston Villa. However, he didn’t train yesterday and was ruled out for tonight’s FA Cup replay against Crystal Palace.
Dyche indicated after the 1-0 replay victory that the 31-year-old had suffered a hamstring injury in his other thigh, but it was too early to tell how severe the problem was.
The manager said that the club’s medical staff were hopeful that the injury would settle down quickly, but Doucouré is unlikely to feature in the fourth round tie against Luton Town in 10 days’ time.
It’s a significant blow to Everton, who failed to win any of the matches from which Doucouré was absent, a record that highlights just how important he is to the Toffees’ team.
“The lads will still get a few down days now,” Dyche said after the game. “We’ve got a couple of injuries as well which is not ideal.
“Seamus [is] hopefully not too long term and Douc maybe a little bit longer. Youngy on the other hand is coming back fit.
“The balance of the rest and the recuperation among the work… a lot of these players, we’re asking a lot of them physically with the game schedule in December – no fault of ours, of course – go play at high, maximum levels and win games.
“They’ve done very well at that so they get a few down days now, as will the staff, and then we’ll start going again.”