Everton predicted line-up vs. Southampton: key change made with McNeil a doubt

With their dreadful start to the season seemingly behind them, Sean Dyche’s Everton will hope to extend their unbeaten run to six Premier League games when they face Southampton at St. Mary’s on Saturday – but have some major injury headaches ahead of kick-off.

Top goalscorer Dwight McNeil is among six first-team players believed to be either out or doubtful for the trip down the south coast, after the former Burnley man picked up knock during last week’s 1-1 draw with Fulham.

We’ve got all that latest team news, injury updates and a predicted line-up below for you – and if you’re here looking for information ahead of the Fantasy Premier League deadline, why not check out our resident expert’s latest advice column as well.

Goalkeeper & Defence

Everton have a clean bill of health at the back at last, which presents Dyche with an interesting problem – whether to throw a freshly-fit Jarrad Branthwaite back into the starting line-up with just three minutes of football in his boots over the last month, or whether to keep faith with an improving Michael Keane.

At full-back, Ashley Young is set to make his 400th Premier League start while full-back Nathan Patterson is pushing for a chance of his own ahead of Ukraine international Vitalii Mykolenko, with Dyche making encouraging noises on Friday about his chance of getting more minutes in the coming weeks.

Midfield

The injury problems start to pile up in midfield. McNeil, a key player for Everton so far this season, has a “chance” to start in spite of a knock picked up last weekend, according to Dyche, while defensive midfielder Abdoulaye Doucouré, who also picked up a “small issue” against Fulham, is likewise pushing to play. Dyche sounded positive about both players during his pre-match press conference.

There’s some bad news, however, for James Garner (back) who will be out for at least a month and perhaps longer. Summer signing Tim Iroegbunam (toe), meanwhile, is also unavailable, with no detailed timeline available for his return beyond Dyche’s assertion that the club expected it to be “weeks”. The injury has, apparently, yet to settle sufficiently for the full extent of the damage to be determined.

Forwards

Armando Broja, another new arrival, is progressing well and inching closer to a return from a foot problem, but the Albanian striker is still highly unlikely to be involved before the international break and will certainly miss out against Southampton. He could be back in light training next week. Young forward Youssef Chermiti is also out with a foot injury.

Meanwhile striker Beto, who scored the injury-time equaliser at Goodison Park last week as he continues his own comeback from injury, has trained well this week and should get some more minutes on Saturday – although Dominic Calvert-Lewin is likely to start in the number nine role again. Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Harrison will probably be on the wings once more.

Full predicted line-up vs. Southampton

Pickford; Mykolenko, Branthwaite, Tarkowski, Young; Gueye, Doucouré; Ndiaye, McNeil, Harrison; Calvert-Lewin.