Vitalii Mykolenko has not recovered in time to make the Everton squad for the crucial game with Bournemouth.
His absence, through a thigh injury that has kept him out for several weeks, means Sean Dyche does not have a fit recognised first team full back available. It means he will have to diverge from his favoured 4-5-1 formation and his solution appears to be to deploy wing-backs.
Demarai Gray does make it into the starting XI with Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s absence having been confirmed earlier in the week. Calvert-Lewin, Seamus Coleman, Nathan Patterson and Ruben Vinagre are all unavailable through injury, as is homegrown midfielder Tom Davies. Davies is out of contract in the summer and may, therefore, have played his final game for the club.
MATCH BLOG: Everton vs Bournemouth LIVE
READ MORE: Everton line-ups vs Bournemouth as Demarai Gray and Conor Coady decisions made
Conor Coady makes it onto the pitch for the final game of his loan spell from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Dyche looks set to line up with Coady, James Tarkowski and Yerry Mina - who is playing his last game in Royal Blue - at centre back. Alex Iwobi and Dwight McNeil are the obvious contenders for the wing back positions in a side that also includes James Garner, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gueye. Doucoure is likely to be the most advanced of that midfield and should operate in a supporting role to Gray.
Such is the injury crisis at the club, Dyche has named two keepers on the bench - Andy Lonergan and Asmir Begovic - and still cannot fill it. Academy players Reece Welch and Sean McAllister are alongside them, as are senior players Ellis Simms, Mason Holgate, Michael Keane and Neal Maupay.
Starting XI: Pickford; McNeil, Coady, Tarkowski, Mina, Iwobi; Garner, Gueye, Onana; Doucoure, Gray
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