Benitez: Mina out, Allan doubt, DCL & Davies close

Everton’s injury nightmare slowly seems to be receding, even as key players remain out of the squad that will travel to Crystal Palace for Sunday’s feature game.

Yerry Mina had started the game against Arsenal in his return from an almost two month injury layoff, but looked to have reaggravated his hamstring issue and will miss the London trip. Midfielder Allan might also be a doubt for this match after having previously missed some training sessions for the Blues.

There was some positive news though with striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin edging closer to a comeback and midfielder Tom Davies set to resume training next week following his knee issue. Salomon Rondon is also fit again and available for selection.

“Against Arsenal, I think it was the game where we ran more [than in any other match] in four years. That means a lot. It means the team is physically at a good level. You can always improve but at the moment we are fine and working so hard.

“In terms of injuries, we still have Yerry unavailable. Dominic is getting closer with every training session he is doing with the rehabilitation coach. He is getting better.

“Rondon is available and has been training and Allan today [Friday] has done half of a training session. Then we have Tom Davies, and maybe next week he will start [training] with the team.”

The Toffees have six league games in a 22-day period over this holiday schedule, and any players they can get back to bolster this threadbare squad will go a long way towards ensuring Benitez’s side keeps climbing up the table.