Everton will be boosted by the return of Abdoulaye Doucoure against Manchester United, but David Moyes has revealed he is still without “nine or 10” players.
Doucoure is available again after serving a one-match suspension as a result of his sending off following the final whistle in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool last week.
The midfielder played his part in the last-ever Merseyside derby to be held at Goodison Park descending into chaos after the game had finished.
It was his decision to celebrate Everton’s late equaliser in front of the travelling Liverpool fans that sparked a furious melee as Curtis Jones appeared to take exception and sprinted over to confront him.
Both players were then involved in an angry bust-up that saw them each receive second yellow cards.
Doucoure sat out Everton’s impressive 2-1 win over Crystal Palace last week, but is in contention to return to the starting lineup in a welcome boost for Moyes who, similar to Man United boss Ruben Amorim, is dealing with an injury crisis.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference on Friday, Moyes revealed if Doucoure was in line for an immediate recall in place of Charly Alcaraz as well as the latest Everton team news.
"We've got them both fit at the moment so that gives us a decision to make,” he told reporters. “We'll look at it and I'll need both of them – we're really short of numbers here.
"I think I've got nine or 10 players out injured so for us to be getting results with that amount of players out is great credit to the players who are playing at the moment.
"I don't think we have any additional injuries, and I don't think, at the moment, we have anyone coming back from injury."
Moyes is set to be without Iliman Ndiaye once again after the attacking midfielder suffered a knee injury against Liverpool. Although, the hope is that he will return ahead of schedule.
"Ili [Ndiaye] has been taking injections and we're quite positive that he's working hard to get back quickly, so we're hoping we can get him back maybe before than the time we thought – but they're not fit just now,” Moyes added.
Meanwhile, Nathan Patterson, Youssef Chermiti, Seamus Coleman, Dwight McNeil, Armando Broja, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Orel Mangala are all unavailable for the Toffees for their Premier League showdown with the Red Devils.
