Ancelotti rules Allan and Gomes out of Brighton clash

Carlo Ancelotti has said Allan, André Gomes and Jonjoe Kenny have joined Everton’s growing injury list and will definitely miss tomorrow’s visit of Brighton & Hove Albion to Goodison Park.

Allan and Kenny were both substituted off during Wednesday’s 4-1 EFL Cup win over West Ham; the former suffering a groin injury and the latter an abductor muscle issue.

Both will miss the Brighton clash, as well as longer-term absentees Jarrad Branthwaite and Mason Holgate, and André Gomes, who has a small knock.

But Richarlison, who was also replaced in the West Ham win due to injury, could still be involved in tomorrow’s game.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, Ancelotti said:

“The injury list is quite big. We don’t have Branthwaite and Holgate as usual tomorrow. Jonjoe Kenny is out, Allan is out, André Gomes is out. Richarlison is better; we are going to have a [fitness] test tomorrow morning and we will see if he is available to play or not.

“After the international break, Allan will be ready, 100 per cent. Jonjoe is out for four weeks. Gomes I think will be ready - if we played Sunday or Monday he’d be ready.”

Ancelotti also said Moise Kean, continually linked with a return to his native Italy before the transfer window shuts, will sit out the Brighton match; though the Italian assured that this is due to illness.

Kean was also not included in the 18-man squad for the West Ham victory, but Ancelotti said the striker has not trained this week due to not feeling well and still has a future at Goodison:

“He has a future at Everton, of course. The club made a big investment on him last season [£27 million]. He’s young.

“This week he was not well and didn’t train. He will not be in the squad tomorrow, but only for this reason. Every one of us is sure that he has a future here, and we are working with him every day.”

Ancelotti also praised Kean’s fellow Everton striker, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, after an incredible start to the season earned him his first England call-up on Thursday.

Calvert-Lewin hit his second hat-trick of the season in Wednesday’s win over West Ham, and has notched a stunning eight goals in five games so far this term.

And while Ancelotti said how delighted he was for Calvert-Lewin, he encouraged him to maintain his current level of performance throughout the season:

“I think it’s a great achievement for him. I said congratulations to him [for his first call-up]. I hope it will not be the last.

“It depends on him, of course. He’s doing really well but he needs to have consistency because he’s really young, but he’s in the right way to have consistency.”

Everton will look to make it seven wins from as many games in 2020-21 when they welcome Brighton tomorrow, knowing that another victory would seal their best start to a campaign since 1894.

Ancelotti added that the club and the squad are in a good place following their faultless start, but is wary of a Brighton side desperately unlucky to lose to Manchester United last weekend:

“Of course, we are really pleased, but we are also focused on what’s going on. The start was good, but it was only the start, unfortunately. The season is long, there will be difficulties, so we have to focus on every game. But the atmosphere at the training ground and the spirit of the team is really good.

“The new players have adapted really well, everything is OK at the moment, but I know for sure tomorrow will be more difficult and we have to pay attention to this kind of game.

“It can be a tricky game. Brighton played a fantastic game against Manchester United [in last weekend’s 3-2 defeat]. We have to expect a strong team that will come here to try to take points.”

Ancelotti was also asked about Norwich defender Ben Godfrey, who is reportedly closing in on a £25 million move to Everton.

But the Italian was coy on these rumours and would not comment on the player, saying he is looking forward to the closure of the transfer window on October 5:

“The situation is that I’m really happy that the market is going to close in the next few days. We are not going to talk about this [after that]. There are a lot of rumours, a lot of speculation, there can be some surprises at the end, but honestly, I want to talk about the game tomorrow.

“That is really important; that is in my mind today, not the rumours and the speculation. Some of it can be true, some of it can be wrong.”