If Everton were going to make a serious run at a European place in the final weeks of the Premier League season, then a spark was going to be required from somewhere.
There were small signs of that coming from James Rodriguez last week against Crystal Palace, as he made a goalscoring return to fitness in a frustrating 1-1 draw at Goodison Park.
But as Everton’s squad was confirmed for the trip to Brighton in the Premier League on Monday night, it was hard to shake the feeling of a campaign unravelling being finally ruined by injuries, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Josh King and Jean-Philippe Gbamin confirmed as fresh absentees.
Factor in an in-game injury for centre-back Yerry Mina, and manager Carlo Ancelotti is currently without 11 senior players due to fitness issues. If you take away Alex Iwobi from the depleted Everton bench at the Amex Stadium on Monday, the other seven players had made just two Premier League appearances between them.
#EFC injury list:
Pickford
Allan
Doucoure
Gomes
Gbamin
Delph
Bernard
Calvert-Lewin
Onyango
King10 out
— Patrick Boyland (@Paddy_Boyland) April 12, 2021
Of course, Everton could have performed better at the Amex Stadium, with the likes of Rodriguez, Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson struggling to make their mark on the game in the attacking third.
But there was a sense from the off that the team was set up to get through this game without losing. The players conserved energy with the lack of options on the bench in mind and didn’t appear to fully commit in attack, waiting for opportunities to present themselves instead. A few did, but they couldn’t capitalise.
The end result was a dire stalemate, although the draw does allow Everton to kick the can down the road in terms of their European hopes. On Friday, they welcome a struggling Tottenham Hotspur team to Goodison Park; Everton trail Spurs by a point and have a game in hand.
That match suddenly becomes enormous for Everton’s hopes of continental qualification. Now there’ll be a nervous wait to see which previously-stricken personnel are available to return to a squad that is on its knees.