Late fitness tests for key Everton players this weekend

Everton are back in Premier League action after the second international break of the young season, and they face a challenging trip away to newly-promoted Ipswich Town in their Saturday afternoon game.

There is some positive squad news though, with manager Sean Dyche updating the injury status of a number of players during his pre-match press conference earlier today, starting with Vitaliy Mykolenko, Seamus Coleman and Jarrad Branthwaite.

“First of all, Mykolenko is looking good, so that’s a good step in the right direction. Seamus is back in the group and he’s had more or less the week [of training].

“Jarrad is a bit behind them – he’s been on the grass with us but he’s a little bit behind them.

“We’ll have to make a decision on [Branthwaite being involved against Ipswich], because he’s only really had a couple of days of training with us. Last time he got through the game then got a minor injury but it cost him a few weeks so we’ve got to be careful with that one. We’ll have to make a call, probably over the next 24 hours – but his injury is fine at the moment, it’s just his training schedule [to consider].”

Electric forward Iliman Ndiaye looked to have been injured while on international duty, but he should be available for the game.

“[The knock Ndiaye picked up for Senegal] settled down really quickly. It was one of them they had to be cautious with at first but it settled down and he was clear-minded. We spoke to him and he said he was clear to be involved in that second game. He’s come back and he’s trained today [Thursday], so we’re hopeful on that one.”

Fullback Nathan Patterson has been working his way back to fitness following surgery early in the year.

“Patto is on his longer-term plan to getting back but he’s looking fitter and sharper all of the time. He’s not quite there yet but he’s training all the time and, so far, he’s coming through it clean, which is really important.”

Two more names did get added to the injury list unfortunately, with midfielders Tim Iroegbunam and James Garner both picking up knocks.

“Tim, unfortunately, has got a stress response from a bone in his foot, so he’s going to be weeks, not days. We’re disappointed because he’s had a good start to the season after a good pre-season. He’ll come back through it but we’re not sure on the timescales.

“Jimmy is similar. He’s got a back situation that we’re just monitoring at the moment – it’s settling down but we’re not going to have anything too concrete until probably about a week or so, when we’ll know more, when he responds to the treatment.”

Longer term injuries to forwards Armando Broja and Youssef Chermiti have kept both sidelined, but the pair are responding positively to their foot injuries.

“Youssef has been incredibly unlucky – probably the most unlucky out of all of them with the oddest injury. He’s making good progress now. He’s on the grass with the sport science team – and so is Broja.

“[Broja] is in front of Youssef with his comeback – he will need a games programme but he’s working actively now and hopefully will cross over [to work with the main group] soon.”

The Toffees sit in 16th place in the league with five points from their first seven games, just a point above the Tractor Boys.