Everton suffer fresh injury blow after forward involved in freak training ground clash

Lewis Dobbin faces a spell on the sidelines but does not require surgery after suffering an ankle injury.

The youngster damaged ligaments in a freak accident in training at Finch Farm just before the international break.

There was an initial fear he might require an operation, but further assessment revealed the issue was not that serious.

The 21-year-old will miss games through his recovery, however, with Sean Dyche explaining work to establish a timeframe for his return is ongoing.

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Dobbin was part of the first team squad that travelled to southern Portugal with Everton in the first week of the club’s extended break following the defeat at Manchester United.

The forward, who is enjoying a breakthrough year in which he scored his first senior goal for the Blues in the home league win over Chelsea, then sustained the ankle knock while landing in training back in the UK.

Speaking ahead of the trip to Bournemouth, in which Everton are looking to end an 11 game winless streak in the Premier League, Dyche said: “It is better news than we thought. He hurt his ankle and was very unlucky - he fell over, landed on someone’s foot and it tilted his ankle. We thought it might need an operation, it doesn’t, which is good news, so now it is just the timescales of getting him back.”

Idrissa Gueye and Seamus Coleman are back fit for the trip to the south coast though Arnaut Danjuma, while making progress, will not be available as he continues to recover from his own ankle issue.