Everton have been given an injury boost ahead of Sunday’s trip to face Newcastle United with Mason Holgate returning to training, reports Liverpool Echo. The 24-year-old has been out of action all season with a toe problem, but he’s on the recovery trail and could be back out on the pitch in November.
Injury crisis in defence
Holgate suffered a toe injury in our pre-season friendly win over Preston North End (September 5). The centre-back went in for a challenge and came out of it badly, resulting in his substitution before the half-hour mark. Nearly four months later and he’s slowly returning, but it remains to be seen whether that will be before or after the upcoming international break (November 11-18).
Holgate has missed our 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur (September 13), EFL Cup win over Salford (September 16), 5-2 win over West Bromwich Albion (September 19), EFL Cup win over Fleetwood Town (September 23), 2-1 win over Crystal Palace (September 26), EFL Cup win over West Ham United (September 30), 4-2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion (October 3), 2-2 draw with Liverpool (October 17) and 2-0 defeat to Southampton (October 25).
What’s worse is that during his absence, we’ve also missed Jarrad Branthwaite at the back. The 18-year-old picked up an ankle injury and has only made one appearances across the board. Lewis Gibson was sent to Reading on a season-long loan, so we’ve only had Yerry Mina and Michael Keane to call upon. Thankfully, the pair have been fantastic and we have the joint-fourth best defence in the Premier League (6 games, 9 goals conceded).
What’s the latest on the rest of the squad?
Liverpool Echo say Branthwaite has returned to training, so he should be back in the coming weeks. Jean-Philippe Gbamin is expected to join the team in November too.
Seamus Coleman’s hamstring injury isn’t expected to be serious and Jonjoe Kenny should be fit to make the squad , so we’ll have competition at right-back.
Cenk Tosun is working hard but isn’t close to returning. James Rodriguez is an injury doubt after tweaking his hamstring in our defeat to Southampton.
In other news, Oumar Niasse makes a decision on his future after leaving Everton over the summer