Everton: Sean Dyche could take risk on Amadou Onana v Man City after injury news emerges
Sean Dyche could be set to take a risk on the fitness of Amadou Onana ahead of the Everton game against Manchester City on Saturday (10 February).
The Belgian international has been sidelined for the past two Premier League games after suffering a knee injury in the FA Cup defeat against Luton Town on 27 January.
But the 22-year-old could return to face the Citizens after the Toffees boss revealed that the midfielder has returned to training ahead of the clash at the Etihad Stadium.
That would be a timely boost for the Blues after four players have been ruled out for the trip to face the Premier League championships, with Dyche confirming that they will be without Abdoulaye Doucoure, Arnaut Danjuma, Andre Gomes and Dele Alli.
“Not Doucoure, not Danjuma, not Andre Gomes,” he said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday (8 February). “He won’t be back. On a better note, Young continues to get stronger, Seamus [Coleman] will have a full week of training.
“Onana was back on the grass today and the team will be picked accordingly. Doucoure is back on the grass, not with us, but he’s out there and he’s making good progress.”
With Doucoure and Gomes out, that leaves Everton short in midfield, with only Idrissa Gueye and James Garner fully fit heading into the game.
There is a good chance that Dyche could, therefore, take a gamble on Onana’s fitness as he would probably like to have three central midfielders in the starting lineup to combat the threats posed by Man City.
The Belgian has once again proved that he’s an exciting talent this season, having drawn interest from some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League and across Europe.
But the Toffees managed to hold onto him during the January transfer window and will be looking for him to make a big impact over the next few months as they look to fight off relegation during this campaign.
The midfielder hasn’t provided much of a goal threat after registering just once in the Premier League this season, but he’s created four big chances for his teammates with his box-to-box play [SofaScore].
He’s averaged an 84 per cent pass completion rate, which is boosted by an 89 per cent success rate when he has possession in his own half after giving the ball away just 7.8 times per game.
It’s the work he does winning the ball back in the middle of the park that has singled him out as a fan favourite, having made 2.6 tackles per outing to go alongside 6.6 balls recovered and 1.1 clearances, while he’s also won 65 per cent of his duels.
Those are attributes that could tempt Dyche into throwing Onana straight back into the mix against Man City as having him on the pitch will improve their chances of picking up a result.
In other Everton news, Ally McCoist has shared a new Toffees relegation prediction live on talkSPORT.
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