Sean Dyche will take his Everton side to face Ipswich Town [Credit: Imago]

HomeMatchday Sat 19 October 2024 13:45, UK

Jarrad Branthwaite hasn't recovered from injury in time to be ready for Everton to face Ipswich after Sean Dyche's starting XI was announced.

The star centre-back has only played one Premier League game for the Toffees this term, the win over Crystal Palace on 28 September after he recovered from groin surgery before then picking up a thigh issue, so Michael Keane again starts in his place.

Dyche has made two changes from the goalless draw against Newcastle last time out (5 October), with Vitalii Mykolenko coming in at left-back and Idrissa Gana Gueye in central midfield.

James Garner is missing from right-back as he has a back injury [Liverpool Echo, 17 October] so Ashley Young switches over from the left, but Nathan Patterson is in the squad for the first time this season after his long road to recovery, and fitness concerns around Iliman Ndiaye haven't kept him out.

Jordan Pickford starts in goal after his iffy international break with England, behind Mykolenko, Keane, James Tarkowski and Young.

Gueye and Abdoulaye Doucoure are in central midfield, behind Ndiaye, Dwight McNeil and Jack Harrison, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is back in contract talks [TEAMtalk, 13 October] up front.

Vitalii Mykolenko and Idrissa Gueye in for Everton Missing Branthwaite is clearly a big blow when the only victory in the league this season came with him in the line up, but an improved performance from Keane against Newcastle suggested hope shouldn't be lost for the trip to Portman Road.

A clean sheet against the Magpies, with a Pickford penalty save from Anthony Gordon, made it three games unbeaten in the league, having started with four-straight defeats.

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And with Kieran McKenna's promoted side winless so far this term Dyche is surely looking at this as a big opportunity for a second victory of his own.

The fact that there are two goalkeepers and three right-backs on the bench, in Patterson, Seamus Coleman and Roman Dixon, illustrates how this squad is still stretched.

So with The Friedkin Group's takeover on the horizon and expected to bring activity in the January transfer window, PSR pressures permitting, there is a clear need.

In other Everton news, Dan Friedkin could move fast to replace Dyche with a manager after England talks emerged.