Everton have confirmed that Seamus Coleman could miss Saturday evening’s meeting with Leeds United through injury. The 32-year-old suffered a hamstring injury while on international duty with the Republic of Ireland two weeks ago and has been out of action ever since.
Coleman missed Ireland’s 3-0 friendly defeat to England (November 12), Nations League defeat to Wales (November 15), Nations League draw with Bulgaria (November 18) and Everton’s 3-2 win over Fulham (November 22). Carlo Ancelotti says his availability will be assessed “week by week”, so Coleman’s return may not be for some time.
What did he do?
Ireland said Coleman suffered a recurrence of a previous injury during an evening training session with the national team. He was given a scan and was assessed by the FAI’s medical team who ruled him out for the entire international break.
Coleman has made seven appearances in all competitions this season, notching one assist, but he missed games earlier in the campaign due to issues with his hamstring. The 32-year-old picked up a knock in our 2-2 draw with Liverpool (October 17) causing him to absent for our 2-0 defeat to Southampton (October 25) and 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United (November 1).
Here’s hoping he’ll return in December to play a part during the busy Christmas period.
Who can replace him?
This is where the problems lie. Jonjoe Kenny is Coleman’s direct replacement at right-back, but he’s not fully fit right now. The 23-year-old has only recently recovered from an ankle injury that he picked up in our EFL Cup win over West Ham United (September 30). He’s missed five of our last six Premier League games and will be short of match fitness, so Ancelotti will be gambling starting him in Coleman’s absence. Unfortunately, we don’t have much choice but to play him.
Summary
Injuries are coming thick and fast for Everton. Lucas Digne has already been ruled out until the new year, so we’ll be without our first-choice full-backs against Leeds. Kenny not being fully fit means our defence is depleted right now. Here’s hoping we can still get a result at Goodison Park to move into the top-four.
In other news, Everton have suffered an injury blow as Lucas Digne is ruled out until 2021