Everton vs Arsenal Early Team News – 2 Out, 2 Doubtful

Having enjoyed a forced ten-day break since their last action, Everton still has a few injury worries to contend with when they face their next Premier League action on Sunday at 3 pm when they travel to Arsenal. Having beaten Wolves 4-0 in their last league match, the Toffees then have to face Chelsea on 22^nd December before coming up against Manchester City on Boxing Day. They round off the year with a match against Nottingham Forest on 29^th December.

Everton currently sit in 15^th place, just 5 points above the relegation zone, although they do have a game in hand on all the teams below them, thanks to the postponed Liverpool derby. Arsenal currenty lie in third position, six points behind leaders Liverpool, and victory for Dyche’s men looks like a big ask. Everton are currently around 12/1 to take the three points. Punters can bet on sports without KYC verification while also enjoying instant withdrawals and improved odds at crypto betting sites. But, much will depend on the fitness of some of the team’s key men.

James Garner suffered a recurrence of his ongoing back injury and manager Dyche has said that the player is some way behind the others. He is set to miss the Arsenal match, although fans will hope he will be back in training and match-fit in the coming weeks.

Iroegbunam missed a week of training in November with a suspected ankle injury. In October it was announced he had a stress injury in his foot and he would be out for several weeks. The signing from Villa will not make the match against Arsenal and foot injuries are notoriously difficult to recover from.

Keane suffered a knock a couple of games back and has been out since, but he is nearing a return and may be available to play some part in the Arsenal match. Whether Dyche risks playing him from the start remains to be seen, however.

Youssef Chermiti suffered a foot injury before the season even got underway. He has appeared for the under-21s and is nearing a return, but he will likely be given a little more time to recuperate before being eased back into first-team plans.

While Everton has a handful of injuries, Arsenal’s injury list is longer. Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are out of the game completely while Gabriel Magalhaes, Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jurrien Timber, Thomas Partey, and Josh Nichols are all major doubts for the encounter.

Although the team has endured a bad run of form, they did manage to rack up a 4-0 victory against Wolves on 4^th December with goals from Ashley Young and Orel Mangala, and a brace of own goals scored by Wolves’ Craig Dawson. However, they do face a challenging run to the end of the year, first facing Arsenal before taking on Chelsea and then Manchester City and, finally, Nottingham Forest. The match against Liverpool, which was postponed because of bad weather caused by Storm Darragh, will also need to be played.