Everton have had another injury concern involving Dominic Calvert-Lewin this week, and Sean Dyche has given an update on the current state of play on the 25-year-old’s fitness ahead of the Merseyside derby on Monday night.
What’s the latest on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury?
The Toffees striker was hooked after an hour against Arsenal at Goodison Park last weekend, with the newly-appointed manager taking a precautionary measure due to a hamstring concern.
However, Dyche has given an update in his pre-match press conference following Calvert-Lewin’s absence in training preparations this week for the visit to Anfield on Monday night.
The 51-year-old said of the Everton marksman: “We’re still monitoring him. It will be touch and go, at best, I think for the Liverpool game. We’ll just have to monitor it and hope that it settles down sooner rather than later.”
“He put a real shift in [against Arsenal]. His stats were very good but unfortunately he’s just got a niggly hamstring and we’ve got to get on top of it as quick as we can.”
Dyche will be frustrated
It will no doubt be frustrating for the former Burnley boss as he heads into his second game in charge with the 242nd Merseyside derby on Monday. Everton showed tremendous progress against league leaders Arsenal last weekend, and keeping that momentum going will be crucial in their bid for top-flight survival this season.
The Toffees are currently 18th in the Premier League table after a run of poor performances has left them once again facing a relegation scrap at the bottom of the table over their 17 remaining fixtures.
It will come as no shock to the Goodison Park faithful that Calvert-Lewin is injured again, as the forward has struggled to build a run of form in the team over the last 18 months, with constant injury troubles and knocks hampering his ability to make a positive impact on the pitch.
Dyche will have Neal Maupay to lean on for the clash at Anfield, but it is unquestionable that the experience that Calvert-Lewin has against Liverpool would be massively advantageous in their efforts to take points from their local rivals, with one goal and two assists in previous clashes against the Reds.
There is still time for the England striker to return ahead of the fixture, but Dyche will need to prepare for the worst and work on strengthening the attacking threat with the other forwards available to him in order to give his team their best chance of getting a positive result on Monday.
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