Everton v Crystal Palace - Monday 19th February 2024

Sean Dyche revealed several key Everton players are edging closer towards true fitness and is hoping to "have everyone fitter for longer" going forward.

The Everton boss has had to juggle a long list of absences with the likes of Abdoulaye Doucoure, Amadou Onana, Seamus Coleman, Ashley Young, Arnaut Danjuma and Andre Gomes all forced to miss games so far in 2024.

Both Danjuma (ankle) and Gomes (calf) are still expected to be out for a further prolonged period, along with Dele (groin). However, Young, Coleman and Onana have recently returned to the squad, while top scorer Doucoure is edging closer to a return from the hamstring injury which has seen him miss 10 of Everton’s past 11 matches.

Dyche revealed: “Seamus (Coleman) got some more minutes at City. Hopefully, Doucs gets back with the group, he’s been building into that. Amadou Onana worked well when he came on [against Manchester City on Saturday], so we are beginning to get the group back to full fitness.

“That hopefully is going to be the last of these groups of injuries. Hopefully, we can keep everyone fitter for longer which will give us a way better chance of challenging ourselves for the rest of the season.”

The nine-day break from the clash at the Etihad to Monday’s Premier League contest against Crystal Palace (8pm kick-off GMT) will be a welcome one to give those returning players more time to get back up to speed.

Looking ahead to the visit of the Eagles to Goodison, Dyche admitted he’s been satisfied with the resolute defensive displays from his side this season but has called on them to see the game as an opportunity to be more forceful in possession.

“The players deserve a lot of credit,” he admitted. “Some of them have had to work at that because it’s not been natural to them. They have found that base to work from. From an organisational point of view, I’d like to think our tactical understanding helps through the coaching and analysts as well.”

“But the key is what I’ve said, that transitional moment, how can we go that one better? I felt Saturday’s performance was leading towards that - but can you find those moments? It’s very rare you go to somewhere like City and win by making 50 of those moments.

“You have to find the key moments and, unfortunately, that was lacking, but a lot of the basics were very good and on show. But we have to keep adapting and learning to find those key moments.”

Everton FC

It has a draw written all over it.