Branthwaite in contention, Mykolenko & Gueye available for Everton

09/26/2024 03:55 PM

The Toffees are at home this weekend against Crystal Palace

Everton go into their sixth game of the Premier League season still seeking their first win as they host Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon. The Toffees were able to break their losing streak of four straight defeats to start the season with an away draw at fellow strugglers Leicester City, but for the third consecutive game dropped points from a winning position after giving up a lead.

Speaking during his pre-match press conference earlier in the day, manager Sean Dyche provided some positive injury news with four players back or close to returning. Jarrad Branthwaite, the breakout defensive star from last season, is yet to play after sustaining an injury over the summer. In his absence James Tarkowski has been paired up with Michael Keane and the Blues' defence has gone from fourth-best last campaign to the joint worst this year.

Idrissa Gana Gueye is also back after missing out last weekend following the passing away of his father. Vitaliy Mykolenko had picked up the bug that swept through the Blues' dressing room last week but is fit again. Meanwhile fullback Nathan Patterson played sixty minutes for the Under-21s on Sunday, and is getting closer to a return after undergoing surgery late last season.

"Jarrad is definitely in contention. He's come through a game last week and done a lot of background work, as well as just the game, so he's looking stronger and he feels stronger.

"Certainly Jarrad is in front of the curve compared to Patto. Patto has had a much longer time out and quite a serious injury – he's doing very well but that's a longer recovery period.

"Gana, unfortunately, lost his father so he was away in Senegal, so he's had a period of around seven days without training and has only just come back in.

"Myko is well again, so that's good."

The only other players still out are all going to remain out for some more time, with club captain Seamus Coleman still recovering from a calf injury sustained during international duty. Youssef Chermiti and deadline day loan addition Armando Broja are unlikely to resume training at least until the international break in mid-October.

"Seamus is a bit longer, Broja is a bit longer and Youssef is a bit longer as well.

"But we are beginning to look a little bit more rounded as a squad, particularly compared to, as recent as 10 days ago."

Summer signing Iliman Ndiaye had promised to get the Everton fans out of their seats and has dazzled to start the season. However, he is yet to play a full ninety minutes with the manager shedding more light on his fitness.

"He's had a few problems with cramping up late in games, as he did at Villa, so we've had to look at that.

"He puts a lot in, as you've seen. He's a dynamic player and that can get quite testing on the body when you're finding that true fitness - and he is a fit player, by the way.

"But that Premier League fitness that I've spoken about is a different kind of thing, so he's adapting to that and the challenges a game gives you at any given time - but it's mainly about making sure he can see through the 95/97 minutes and see it completely through.

"There's a lot of details in the games. We've seen that already this season. We can't afford people running out of energy because that often brings mistakes."