Everton manager David Moyes has said he remains in the dark over the injury that forced Vitalii Mykolenko off during the 2-0 Premier League defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Mykolenko, the squad's only recognised left-back, started Everton's first seven matches of the season. After missing the last three of Ukraine's four games in the recent international break, he was ruled out of the 2-2 draw at Hull City a fortnight ago. The 27-year-old returned for the 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea last weekend but had to be taken off after 74 minutes against the Gunners.
Moyes unsure on Mykolenko fitness
Asked how Mykolenko was, Moyes said: "Don't know yet, no. No idea." The manager also revealed he only found out on Monday morning about the concussion that ruled Jarrad Branthwaite out of the fixture.
Reflecting on the overall contest, Moyes added: "Not an awful lot really, no, no. I don't have big thoughts on it. We didn't really get to a level, which I think would have been good enough to win on the day. We gave away a goal very early, which meant we were sort of half chasing."
Second-half improvement not enough
Moyes felt his side improved after the interval. "It felt like we'd got a bit better in the second half and got back into it a little bit more, got a bit closer to the Arsenal in the second half, but then they come up with a second goal," he said.
"There was some good stuff but certainly on the defensive side of it. I didn't feel as if we'd done enough from an attacking part of the game."
O'Brien's first league start assessed
Moyes also gave a mixed verdict on Jake O'Brien, who deputised for Branthwaite in his first Premier League start of the season. "Jake did well, he did a lot of good things. He's got pretty big competition as Jarrad Branthwaite is an excellent player and Tarky is a bit of a leader for us and trains every day like a beast and get himself ready for all the games and prepares himself," Moyes said.
"There's competition there, but he didn't do himself any harm today in some of it. He's got lots of things he has to improve on for him to step up."
