Sean Dyche says Everton are still “monitoring” Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s fitness.
Calvert-Lewin has played just one match for Everton since Dyche took charge of the club at the end of January. The striker played 62 minutes of the 1-0 home win over Arsenal that kicked-off the former Burnley manager's reign but has been sidelined since with a hamstring injury.
The Blues travel to Chelsea in their next Premier League clash on Saturday night as they look to move clear of the relegation zone. Everton are currently in 15th place in the table and one point adrift of the bottom three.
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Dyche, speaking in his pre-match press conference to preview the trip to Stamford Bridge, said that he never expected to have Calvert-Lewin, who wasn't pictured at training today, for the match. And he went on to say that he hoped the upcoming international break will do the England star good.
“We’re still monitoring the situation,” said Dyche. “We’re being careful, he’s being careful with his body to try and give him every opportunity.
“It wasn’t overly in my thinking for the Chelsea game, regardless of anything else. Because the international break comes and you can hopefully use that even more wisely.
“So we’re just monitoring his body.
When asked about his non-appearance of the training ground today, Dyche added: “He’s just felt something that we’ve had to be careful with, that's all, and he’s had to be careful with.
“We’re trying to get him to [be] as strong as he was two years ago, and get him back to that statistical level, as well as what we see and how he feels.
“We’ll see, there’s nothing other than me just wanting to get him out there training every day and feel good about that. That’s the best start point, and we’ll take it from there.”
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