James Garner is not expected to be ready to start the Carabao Cup game with Preston North End on Wednesday. The midfielder was a surprise inclusion within the Everton squad for the Premier League opener with Crystal Palace, having undergone surgery on a minor groin issue in June.
He made it off the bench as the Blues started their campaign with a 2-0 win through goals from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry.
Selection born of necessity
Everton manager David Moyes later revealed Garner's selection was an act of necessity with injuries elsewhere in his midfield - Christian Norgaard and Tim Iroegbunam are both also recovering from issues.
Moyes had to turn to 19-year-old Harrison Armstrong and provide a top-flight debut to Hayden Hackney - both of whom played well in what became a comfortable win after Dewsbury-Hall opened the scoring just before half-time. Palace had created three good chances with the game goalless but their threat fizzled out after going behind.
"Is he ready? No"
On whether Garner was fit enough to play a greater role, if required, Moyes said: "We wouldn't have put him on the bench if we had anything else.
"So we've tried to get, I don't know, maybe 15, 20 minutes out of him today, whatever it was. He's not had any games. He's not done any pre-season, but we've needed it because we don't have anybody else at the moment and I knew that if we got in the game like we did, I might have needed him to cover more… but is he ready? No."
Norgaard is out with an issue unspecified by the club, while Iroegbunam is dealing with an adductor injury that derailed talks over a move with Hull City but is not thought to be serious, with hope that he will be in full training before the end of the transfer window.
Rotation options for Deepdale trip
Moyes will have to decide whether to rotate his squad for the trip to Deepdale to take on his former club Preston, with the likes of Jake O'Brien and Tyler Dibling pushing for starts after not making it off the bench on Saturday.
Beto and Carlos Alcaraz, second-half substitutes against Palace, scored at the second round stage of the Carabao Cup last season and could play a part, while Moyes also has the option of using the game to help new signing Brennan Johnson's integration to the squad.
Preston have lost their opening two matches in the Championship and secured the second-round tie with Everton by beating Huddersfield Town on penalties in a game played at Goodison Park while the pitch at Deepdale was re-laid.
