Match Report; Another injury blow for Everton

Dyche’s starting lineup against Fulham could look like a mix-and-match next weekend

Everton recorded an impressive 1-0 victory over Europa League side Sporting CP in the last pre-season friendly before the commencement of the regular league season for both sides. A Dominic Calvert-Lewin penalty just before halftime was the only scoring in the game, with both sides clattering the woodwork as well. The Blues held on well late on despite the visitors throwing everything forward to get the equalizer.

However, with just a few minutes to go in the game the Toffees were hit by a devastating blow for captain for the day James Tarkowski, who was the only outfield player in the Premier League last season to play every minute of every game, stayed down  who got into a knee-on-knee collision with striker Viktor Gyokeres. Iron man Tarkowskiafter the impact, rolling around and clutching his left knee. Evertonians’ hearts remained in their mouths as he received extended medical attention before walking off under his own steam and straight down the tunnel to the dressing room.

With the departures of Yerry Mina and Conor Coady, and Mason Holgate out of favour and likely gone soon, the Blues are pretty thin in the centrehalf corps with Michael Keane, Jarrad Branthwaite and Ben Godfrey the only likely options available to Sean Dyche. The pre-season so far has been all about finding the best partner for Tarkowski, but we are seven days away from seeing two of Keane, Branthwaite and Godfrey against Fulham, who could have talismanic striker Aleksandar Mitrovic lining up.

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