James Rodriguez ruled out of Everton clash v Southampton
Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that James Rodriguez will miss his side’s trip to Southampton this weekend after picking up an injury against Liverpool.
The 29-year-old has started for Everton in every Premier League game this season following his summer transfer from Real Madrid.
But, speaking to EvertonTV, Toffees boss Ancelotti said that Rodriguez sustained an injury early in the game against Liverpool and didn’t disclose how long the Colombian would be out for.
Ancelotti said, “Unfortunately, James had a problem during the game [against Liverpool]. He had a mistimed tackle with Virgil van Dijk at the beginning of the game and I think he will not be available for the game against Southampton.”
This is the second piece of injury news in as many days as Ancelotti also explained yesterday (Wednesday) that Seamus Coleman would also miss the trip to the south coast.
This leaves open the opportunity for summer signing Ben Godfrey to be given his first start as an Everton player after making his debut in last week’s Merseyside derby.
Everton travel to Saint Mary’s with an unbeaten record in the Premier League and find themselves top of the table after five games.
They face a Southampton side who will be high on confidence after sealing a dramatic 3-3 draw against Chelsea last time out in the league, with Jannick Vestergaard scoring the equaliser in the second minute of added time.
But the Toffees attack will know that the Saints defence is a weakness for the home side as they conceded three last weekend and have also conceded five at home to Tottenham earlier this season. Even without Rodriguez, Everton will be looking to get back to winning ways after drawing with their city rivals last weekend.
In other Everton news, the Toffees are trying to offload a striker to their former club.