Everton of England midfielder, Alex Iwobi has been ruled out action in The Toffees’ first match under their new coach, Carlo Ancelotti, following the 11th minute hamstring injury he coped last weekend against his former club, Arsenal, megasportsarena.com can reveal.
The Super Eagles’ playmaker will now miss Thursday’s tie with Burnley, which will be Ancelotti’s first match since taking over the job at Goodison Park, as medics insist Iwobi needs time to fully recover and recuperate from the knock he copped in the goalless home draw on Saturday.
While Iwobi recuperates from the knock, which saw him replaced by Cenk Tosun in Saturday’s game, Lucas Digne, Djibril Sidibe, Fabian Delph and Gylfi Sigurdsson all returned to action after injury against The Gunners, but it remains to be seen what role Ancelotti will hand Moise Kean, who stepped off the bench for the final 10 minutes of that game on Merseyside.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson could return to the Burnley squad, though the winger has been absent since suffering a hamstring injury while on international duty with Iceland in October, as he played 90 minutes for the club’s under-23 side on Saturday and come through unscathed, in spite of playing for an hour in a behind-closed-doors game last week.
Gudmundsson’s return could be a timely one with Jeff Hendrick suspended after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season in the win at Bournemouth, but Aaron Lennon missed training on Monday due to illness and will battle to be fit in time for the Boxing Day clash with Burnley.
Everton sit 15th in the EPL table with 19 points from 18 matches and are only four points above the drop zone, but Ancelotti has confirmed that Iwobi faces a spell on the sidelines following the hamstring injury he suffered in the opening minutes of the goalless draw against Arsenal.
Before now, the deadline day signing from Arsenal has been named in 21 match day squads in all competitions since the start of this season, starting 15 of them, but he will not be available for one of the most demanding periods of the term.
While admitting Iwobi’s absence, starting with Thursday’s clash with Burnley, Ancelotti added that the playmaker is expected to spend at least two weeks in the treatment room, and he is bound to also miss action against Newcastle United on Saturday, Manchester City next week Wednesday, January 1st and the Merseyside derby against Liverpool on January 5.
Ancelotti said: “Alex Iwobi is not going to play in the next games. He is going to rest for two or three weeks, then start with the team.”
