Goodison View: Ancelotti update on key Everton man is tremendous news
This has been a hugely dispiriting season for Everton, and one of the worst moments was midfielder Andre Gomes' horrific injury in November.
The Portugal international went down under an awful tackle from Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min, and it was feared he'd miss the rest of the season.
However, Toffees manager Carlo Ancelotti provided a much-needed positive update on the 26-year-old on Friday.
"His recovery is going faster," he said at his pre match press conference, as per the Liverpool Echo.
"I hope he can be with us soon because he is a fantastic player."
In the Echo report it confirms that Gomes will return to Finch Farm next week to train individually, which is phenomenal news for the Blues.
Perhaps it will be another month or two after that before he's back playing first team football, but the fact that he might return at all this campaign is a huge boost.
Everton have had a soft underbelly in the middle of the park ever since Gomes went down, and they don't exert the same influence on games without him.
He averaged 44.4 passes per game last season, with an accuracy of 84.8%. Those tallies dropped to 41.5 with an 83.4% success rate, but that fell in line with the team's struggles.
The team have really missed Gomes' passing ability and his bite in the middle of midfield, there's no doubt about that.
We all expected that they would be missing that for the entirety of the campaign, but apparently not. That's fantastic news for Ancelotti and his squad.
In other Everton news, a young Toffees defender is reportedly set for a move away from Goodison Park.