Everton beat Manchester City 2-1 last night in their League Cup semi-final first leg but it came at a cost.
The Toffees lost Seamus Coleman, Romelu Lukaku and Tom Cleverly to injury with the Irishman sustaining the worst of the knocks and strains.
Roberto Martinez was pleased with his side going “eye-to-eye” with big-spending City and – through Ramiro Funes Mori and Lukaku goals – won 2-1. However, the Everton boss lamented the latest spate of injuries to befall his squad.
He commented, “We lost Tom at half time and had to readjust. Then we lost Romelu with a knock to his ankle, and late on we had to play the last few minutes with 10 men because Seamus and had to come off.
“Romelu took a knock to his ankle and he will need assessing. I don’t know if he will be available at the weekend [against Dagenham in the FA Cup] but I don’t expect anything too serious.” Martinez added:
“With Tom and Seamus, Tom picked up a knock to his calf against Spurs and it flared up at half-time.
“Seamus is probably the most serious of the three. He has pulled his calf and that type of injury usually takes three or four weeks to fully recover.”
Four weeks out would see Coleman miss five games for his club, including the return leg against City and away league fixtures against City and Chelsea on January 13 and 16.
Ireland boss Martin O’Neill will hope Coleman and James McCarthy, who has struggled with his Achilles of late, will be able to finish out the season without any more enforced time on the sidelines.
