Frank Lampard and his coaches are set for a major challenge to manage the Everton squad over a critical period of five games in just 14 days.
The season will end in relentless fashion for the Blues, whose Premier League status will be decided over the final fortnight. That busy conclusion comes at the end of a campaign in which Everton have been ravaged by injuries.
The impact of those injuries have hampered Lampard since his arrival in January and will continue to be a factor between now and the season-ending trip to Arsenal on May 22. Chief among the dilemmas faced by the Blues boss is the fitness of Yerry Mina. The centre back's return was heralded as a potential turning point in the relegation battle, with Mina immediately selected for the starting line-up against Leicester City following his recovery. He was then rested for the trip to Anfield alongside Fabian Delph, who had returned after months out in the previous game against Manchester United.
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Lampard later explained both were left out in order to manager their returns to the first team with the wider fixture schedule in mind. He said: "Difficult decisions, they came in and have both been really effective. Delph for two games, Yerry for one. Yerry was a bit stiff and tight two days after the game. It's normal when you've been out for 10 weeks and with his history it was a decision made with a though process of the next games coming up. Delph was similar. They're important players for us and we took them out and the players who came in did well."
Mina and Delph then started at home to Chelsea on Sunday, both playing key roles in the 1-0 win. Whether they can tolerate so many games in such a short period will dictate Lampard's tactics, potentially forcing him to target certain games for his strongest line-up. Mina's availability is particularly important following the loss of Ben Godfrey to a quad injury just minutes before the start of the trip to Liverpool. Godfrey is facing a battle to play again this season.
Fitness concerns exist over other players, too. Donny van de Beek, signed on loan from Manchester United in January, has played a limited role for Everton due to a series of injuries. He had been set to return to action at West Ham United following the last international break only to, in a similar fashion to Godfrey, need to be replaced just moments before kick-off. Lampard's other signing, Dele Alli, has begun to play an important role from the bench - creating the stoppage-time equaliser against Leicester and fashioning a chance for Alex Iwobi at Anfield, only for a goal to be denied by a last-ditch Andrew Robertson clearance. Lampard is aware a less-pressurised situation would have been more suitable to efforts to restore Alli's confidence and fitness after a difficult few years at Tottenham Hotspur, but his recent contributions have impressed.
Tom Davies' return to the matchday squad against Chelsea offered a further positive for Lampard. His injury problems were thought to have been so severe that, after the January transfer window, he was not registered in Everton's Premier League squad. Jean-Philippe Gbamin's departure on loan freed up a space for him, however, and pictures revealed his surprise return to first-team training at Finch Farm last week. He was then named on the bench on Sunday, suggesting he is far closer to match fitness than had been expected by this stage of the season. Andre Gomes, meanwhile, is also recovering from injury.
Along with the care required to get the most from Mina, the other major question for Everton is the fitness of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. After two prolific seasons, and then three goals in his first three games of this season, the muscle problem that ruled him out for months had a dramatic impact on Everton's fortunes.
Calvert-Lewin was then unable to hit the net when he returned earlier this year, before suffering another injury ahead of the game at home to Leicester. He returned to training last week and is available again now. With goals so crucial to Everton's survival and one other potential option - Cenk Tosun - also facing a battle to play again this season, assessing his fitness and how to use him most effectively over the coming five games is another dilemma facing Lampard.
