Baines back, McCarthy crocked for Everton vs Hull

Everton host Hull City today, looking to continue their excellent home streak and putting away a Tigers squad that held the Blues to a 2-2 draw.

Veteran Leighton Baines should be back in action tomorrow, having trained this week after leaving the game against West Brom at half time last weekend with a back injury. Midfielder and Republic of Ireland international James McCarthy, who got yet another call-up this week, has picked up yet another hamstring ailment.

“Leighton trained this morning. Normally he would be available for the weekend. We have still have the same players out.

“James is progressing. Okay, we know the FIFA rule that they [Republic of Ireland] can call up James. They will do their fitness [tests]. We will see, we can’t do anything about that.”

Muhamed Besic and Yannick Bolasie remain long-term injury holdouts recovering from knee and ankle injuries respectively.

For Hull, Everton’s on-loan striker Oumar Niasse is ineligible to play against his parent club, while midfielder Evandro is out with a calf injury.

Fellow midfielder Markus Henriksen as returned to training after a shoulder injury, but will miss out, as will Michael Dawson, Ryan Mason and Dieumerci Mbokani.