‘Wee bit of trouble’ – Duncan Ferguson provides injury update on Calvert-Lewin
Everton could be without Dominic Calvert-Lewin once again after the striker was forced off through injury against Tottenham.
Assistant boss Duncan Ferguson has offered an initial update on the striker, though could not give any certainty as he was speaking post-match.
He told BT Sport, as reported by talkSPORT, “It looks like he tweaked his hamstring. We’re not quite sure.
“It could be a wee bit of trouble for him.”
It is possible that this latest setback is a reoccurrence of the hamstring injury Calvert-Lewin sustained in January.
He missed three weeks because of that and had rediscovered his goalscoring touch on his return, with four goals in six games.
A worrying sign
Everton coped well without Calvert-Lewin against Spurs as we scored twice in his absence, but if he is out for a lengthy period we could struggle.
We were fortunate when he was unavailable last month as he only missed one league game, the 2-1 win over Wolves, but things could be different this time.
Carlo Ancelotti surprisingly went with 4-4-2 in that match with Gylfi Sigurdsson and James Rodriguez playing furthest forward.
The latter was sidelined on Wednesday, however, so he may not be fit to start against Fulham at the weekend.
That would mean two of our most important players are missing.
Richarlison will have to step-up once more as he is our second-highest goalscorer, with eight goals.
But it is up to Ancelotti to find another way of playing in Calvert-Lewin’s absence.
His use of Sigurdsson could play a vital role, as the Icelandic linked up superbly with Richarlison for his second against Spurs, and also produced a wonderful assist for Bernard’s winner.
Exploiting the opposition through the middle may be our main avenue of success as we will lack a player who can get onto the end of crosses.
Fortunately, next up is a Fulham side with one win in 14 games, but we hope Calvert-Lewin recovers quickly as Man City visit next Wednesday.
In other Everton news, we are keeping tabs on Aston Villa starlet Tyreik Wright – report.