Jake O'Brien decision set to haunt Sean Dyche at Everton after new injury developments
Sean Dyche could have an extremely limited set of players to choose from as Everton prepare to face Tottenham on Saturday (24 August).
The Toffees got their season off to the worst of starts, losing 3-0 to Brighton on the opening weekend, and having a penalty decision waved away by Simon Hooper before Ashley Young was sent for an early shower.
Now, with an even more difficult clash against Ange Postecoglou's Spurs side on the horizon, a whole new nightmare has emerged on James Tarkowski ahead of the trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday (22 August, Official X account), Dyche said: "He’s [Tarkowski] still a bit away, he’s not close at the moment. A few of the lads are getting closer.
"Seamus [Coleman] is a bit closer, Jimmy Garner is a bit closer and is just coming back into training with the group. Tawkowski’s got a maybe situation so we’ll have to look at that going into the next game.
“Yousef [Chermiti] is longer term, Patterson is longer term as well.”
Given the new injury update from the boss, it seems his decision not to give new signing Jake O'Brien his debut against the Seagulls could come back to haunt him this weekend.
Jake O'Brien set for Everton debut v Tottenham?
Despite a long, drawn-out transfer saga, O'Brien arrived at Goodison Park with plenty of time to prepare himself ahead of the new campaign, having been announced as a new signing in July.
However, Dyche chose to go with a centre-back partnership of Tarkowski and Michael Keane, with Jarrod Branthwaite yet to return from injury and Mason Holgate only making the bench.
The lack of new signings in the starting XI in general raised a few eyebrows amongst the fans, with Jesper Lindstrom not even being substituted on despite losing their opening game.
Albeit with the use of hindsight, deploying the former Crystal Palace centre-back against Brighton would have been a much better solution than Keane, who only made four Premier League starts last season.
Dyche's squad selection is now set to backfire, with O'Brien likely to be thrown straight in at the deep end against one of the most exciting attacking lineups in the division, having never earned his senior debut at Selhurst Park.
The match could be one for fans to watch between their fingers on Saturday 24 August.
In other Everton news, Richard Keys has shared “huge problems” at Goodison Park after recent developments.
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