Wednesday 6 December 2017 10:57, UK
New Everton boss Sam Allardyce will miss the club's final Europa League game in Cyprus on Thursday due to a medical appointment.
The Toffees, already eliminated from the competition, face Apollon Limassol in Nicosia and the travelling party that left on Wednesday was without Allardyce, who was appointed to the managerial position only last week.
Allardyce, 63, has remained at home as he has a pre-arranged appointment to attend and the side will be led by first-team coaches Craig Shakespeare and Duncan Ferguson, Sky Sports News understands.
With Everton's fate in the group already determined and Sunday's Merseyside derby with Liverpool to prepare for, assistant manager Sammy Lee has also not made the trip and will work with the players who have not travelled.
In Allardyce's absence, Ferguson and Shakespeare, who was in charge for part of Leicester's Champions League run last term, are set to take charge of an inexperienced XI.
Everton's dismal Europa League campaign has seen them pick up just one point from their five group matches, against Apollon at Goodison Park in September, in the worst record of any English club in the competition's history.
Their concluding clash in Cyprus is a dead rubber for both teams as the hosts, with just three points to their credit, cannot qualify for the last 32 either.
