Everton Team News For Bournemouth Trip

Dwight McNeil is unlikely to be available for Everton's trip to Bournemouth this weekend.

The Blues head to the Vitality Stadium on Saturday (3pm GMT kick-off) and will likely do so without McNeil, who has missed the past four matches with a knee injury.

Seamus Coleman has also been ruled out with the minor calf issue that kept him out of the matchday squad for the visit of Nottingham Forest last time out.

Tim Iroegbunam and James Garner – Everton's longer-term absentees – remain unavailable but both have stepped up their rehabilitations from foot and back injuries respectively.

Speaking in Thursday's pre-match press conference, Dyche said: "I doubt Dwight will make the weekend. It's settling but getting it to that final moment when he can join in again has been a bit trickier than we thought.

"[Coleman's injury] is nothing too serious but he won't be ready for this one.

"[Iroegbunam and Garner] are both on the grass – with the sport science side, though. They're not ready for us yet and there's still a bit of time to go yet but they are making progress."

Discussing the fitness and readiness of Nathan Patterson, who has made substitute appearances in each of the past two games, Dyche added: "We've got him on the past couple of games. He's never been out of the mix. He had a really serious injury – people forget that and it's taken him some time to get back to real fitness and real sharpness, but I think he's getting there and he's had some game time, which is good."

The Opposition

Bournemouth will be without Justin Kluivert, who serves a one-match suspension after picking up five yellow cards this season.

The Cherries also have a number of fitness concerns, with Marcos Senesi, Julian Araujo and Adam Smith likely to be ruled out with injury, while Marcus Tavernier, Luis Sinisterra, Alex Scott and Tyler Adams set to face late checks.