Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin will miss the club’s New Year’s Day trip to Manchester City with a calf injury.
The Frenchman sustained the blow ahead of our trip to Manchester United on December 15, and was ruled out for a fortnight while Theo Walcott was also sidelined with a calf issue for an expected three weeks.
Walcott returned to action sooner than expected by starting in Saturday’s 2-1 win at Newcastle United, but Ancelotti has confirmed that Schneiderlin had only been able to return to training at Finch Farm on Tuesday.
The Italian now hopes to have the 30-year-old central midfielder back available for our FA Cup Merseyside Derby with Liverpool on Sunday, but is preparing to face Premier League champions Man City on Wednesday without Schneiderlin, Alex Iwobi, Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Andre Gomes.
Should Schneiderlin start vs Liverpool if fit?
Yes
No
“We have almost close to recovery Morgan Schneiderlin,” Ancelotti said at his pre-game press conference, via quotes by the club’s official website. “He will start to train with the team today [Tuesday], and I think he will be available for the game on Sunday.
“The others, we didn’t have any problems in these two days [since playing at St. James’ Park] and that was good.
“Andre Gomes and Gbamin need time to recover, but everything is going well with them.”
Having Gomes, Gbamin and Schneiderlin on the sidelines will see Ancelotti face Pep Guardiola’s Sky Blues with a midfield group consisting of Tom Davies, Fabian Delph and Gylfi Sigurdsson, while Mason Holgate could play a makeshift role, as he did against Manchester United.
Ancelotti favoured Davies and Sigurdsson against Newcastle at the weekend, while Delph entered the action from the bench, with the trio boasting 30, 43 and 16 accurate passes respectively.
In other Everton news, the club are claimed to be on pole position in the race to sign a highly sought-after 76-cap star.