Everton have released their latest batch of training ground photographs from Finch Farm as they gear up for this weekend's trip to north London as they prepare to take on Arsenal.
The pictures provide interesting viewing with Dominic Calvert-Lewin getting back up to speed.
Here’s a look at what we’ve spotted from the session.
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Calvert-Lewin on the comeback trail
Everton’s number nine hasn’t kicked a ball in the Premier League all season since he suffered what manager Frank Lampard described as a “freak injury” just a few days before the Chelsea game but ahead of the Merseyside Derby, the Blues boss declared he hoped to have his centre-forward back in contention for post-Liverpool fixtures.
It remains to be seen whether Calvert-Lewin is fit enough to be considered for Sunday’s trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal – who GQ magazine incorrectly claimed he was on the brink of a transfer to on the eve of Everton’s relegation showdown at Burnley last April, much to Goodison Park chiefs’ fury – but the signs are now encouraging that he’ll be back leading the line sooner rather than later.
Midfield double act
They’re almost a dozen years apart in age and with an eight-inch difference in height, but Everton’s new little and large midfield duo of Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana look to be getting on famously already.
Despite Onana being a Belgium international, like his senior partner who has returned to the Blues following a three-year stint at petrodollar-fuelled Paris Saint-Germain, he was born in the Senegalese capital city of Dakar and the pair seemed very much at home in each other’s company, so it’s to be hoped they can soon build up an equally strong understanding in the centre of the park.
Gaffer all smiles
He’s still waiting for his first Premier League win of the season but Lampard – in a week in which his previous employers Chelsea sacked another manager in the shape of his Stamford Bridge successor Thomas Tuchel – looked relaxed enough as he shared a few words with Anthony Gordon and well he might.
Despite various outsiders claiming that Lampard is under big pressure at Goodison, most Blues can see the progress his side are slowly making and having his first full week with prize asset Gordon after the transfer window closed and Chelsea’s pursuit of him was thwarted provides the 44-year-old with another boost.
Familiar faces
New boy Onana wasn’t the only team-mate Gueye was getting himself acquainted with. Given that Lampard is Farhad Moshiri’s sixth managerial appointment in as many years, there have been plenty of ins and outs in terms of squad personnel throughout the Monaco-based businessman’s time as owner, but one player who has remained from the start of the midfielder’s first spell at the club in 2016 is captain Seamus Coleman who he was pictured with.
Joining them was new boy Neal Maupay, who made his debut against Liverpool last Saturday, and who Gueye will know from his previous stint in French football when he played for Lille while the striker was at Nice.
Next generation
There was one member of the squad that made even 21-year-olds Onana and Gordon seem like relative old stagers and that was 16-year-old left-back Ishe Samuels-Smith, who was elevated to spend some time with the senior squad after impressing for the youth team.
David Unsworth was a big fan of the Manchester-born prospect during his time at the helm of Everton’s Academy and it seems as though Under-18s coach Leighton Baines has also been impressed by the youngster operating in his old position.
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