McCarthy unlikely to play for the rest of the season

Everton travel to West Ham United on Saturday looking to carry their stellar 2017 home record on the road. Their hosts are just about clear of the relegation zone while the Blues have seventh spot sewn up and are in contention for moving up a position.

During the pre-match press conference, Ronald Koeman expressed his concern over James McCarthy’s hamstring ailment, throwing into doubt his further participation in what is left of the season.

"He is still working seperate of the group.

"I don't know. I don't know. There are four weeks to go and I don't know if he will be at a good level physically to play- we will wait.

"It's not the first time he's been out. We need to see how he's recovering and at what time he'll be available I don't know."

Aaron Lennon is out for another week at least while Muhamed Besic played a full ninety minutes for the Under-23s on Friday as he works is way to full fitness. Enner Valencia is ineligible to play against parent club, and this could mean a rare showing for Arouna Kone.

Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

For West Ham, manager Slaven Bilic has a real headache with suspensions and injuries ravaging his side. Sam Byram and Mark Noble are both suspended.

Andy Carroll, Michail Antonio, Pedro Obiang and Angelo Ogbonna are all injured, but Winston Reid and Diafra Sakho are expected to play after recovering from their own injury woes.