Everton’s relentless end to the Premier League season continues today, as they face Brentford having been afforded just two days’ rest.
And not only have they been given little to no time for recovery, but Wednesday arguably marked the most gruelling, intense match of the season as they finally beat Liverpool at Goodison Park.
Well, now the task is to bottle that energy and unleash it at home again today, but there is every chance that Sean Dyche’s men could suffer a hangover after such a result.
That being said, there will have to be a slight reshuffle of personnel, just to freshen things up.
One star in particular will almost certainly gain his call-up to plug an outstanding injury gap.
Sean Dyche must plug injury gap vs Brentford
Whilst Wednesday marked a near-perfect night for Evertonians, there was one sore spot that occurred late in the first half which might go forgotten.
After all, seeking to defend his back post, it seems like Vitaliy Mykolenko suffered a really nasty roll of the ankle which saw him leave Goodison Park in a boot and on crutches.
Dyche offered an update on the Ukraine international in his pre-match press conference ahead of Brentford, noting: ‘Mykolenko. Yeah, Mykolenko is unlikely. We’ll see how that settles, he needs a scan on that to know the truth of it. But it’s not great early signs. We’ll see how quickly that settles.’
So, that leaves a gaping vacancy for Dyche to fill, and worse still is that there is no outstanding choice to offer an instant solution at left-back.
Ben Godfrey and Ashley Young have both deputised there over the season, with varied success, but now Everton will seemingly have no other choice but to call upon one of them.
Ashley Young has to replace Vitaliy Mykolenko
And, those options are further narrowed due to the injuries suffered at right-back too, with Seamus Coleman and Nathan Patterson both having been ruled out too.
Godfrey filled that right-hand spot on Wednesday with remarkable proficiency whilst Young watched on from the bench, but now the 38-year-old will have to play alongside the former Norwich City man on the opposite flank.
After all, he was called upon to replace Mykolenko at half time, who somehow continued for a period after initially sustaining the blow.
And he deputised brilliantly, keeping Mohamed Salah silent and winning 100% of his total duels, making a further one interception and two clearances, via Sofascore.
Whilst Young has been unreliable at times this campaign when called upon to play in the backline, making two errors leading to a goal and conceding a penalty, the £40k-a-week veteran cannot be faulted for his commitment to the cause.
Even against Nottingham Forest, whilst he was somewhat fortunate to avoid conceding a single spot kick again, he still did well to record plenty more defensive interactions and was not dribbled past once.
He is capable of shutting down his wing when he stays concentrated, and Young should be buoyed by a stunning midweek cameo to hopefully provoke another solid showing that effectively secures survival.
