By Pranav Shahaney

12th Sep, 2022 | 4:40pm

Everton defender Ben Godfrey likely to be ruled out until Christmas with injury

Everton defender Ben Godfrey is expected to be ruled out with an injury until December 25, according to injury expert Ben Dinnery.

Frank Lampard confirmed on 8 August that the England international had successfully undergone a surgery on the fractured fibula.

The initial assessment was that he would miss the next three months and return in November, but he’s now not expected back before Christmas with a boxing day return expected to be on the cards.

Big blow

Despite signing two centre-backs this summer, the defence still appears to be the Achilles heel of this side.

Lampard has been criticised on numerous occasions for not properly coaching defences and missing one of his main centre-backs will certainly not help his cause.

Godfrey has proven to be extremely versatile at Everton – playing as a right-back and left-back as well under Carlo Ancelotti.

However, he is now likely to miss another month of action which will mean that Conor Coady and James Tarkowski will now have their work cut out.

Yerry Mina is also still ruled out with an injury and he does not really seem to be fussed about playing for the club so we will not be surprised if he’s sold in January.

Apart from that, Michael Keane is not really reliable at the back and he’s the next best option so Lampard will be praying that Godfrey returns to fitness sooner rather than later.