Everton have suffered a significant setback in their fight to avoid relegation with Yerry Mina ruled out for up to 10 weeks with a quadriceps injury.
The Colombia international sustained his third thigh problem of an injury-plagued campaign during Tuesday’s defeat at Newcastle and is not expected to return until late April. Mina’s absence leaves Frank Lampard seriously stretched in central defence, with the manager having lost Ben Godfrey for at least a month with a hamstring injury in his first game in charge.
Lampard will be without seven first-team players for Leeds’s visit on Saturday, including Demarai Gray and Vitalii Mykolenko, the club’s only recognised left-back.
“Yerry Mina is an unfortunate injury which will be between eight to 10 weeks,” Lampard said. “It’s a strong injury around his quad and disappointing for us all. In the week I’ve been here I’ve realised he is a big leader in the group, a top player, and he’s a big miss.
“They are two big injuries for us at centre-back. We do have players there who have to step up and have been stepping up – Michael Keane, Mason Holgate, Jarrad Branthwaite – but the options are becoming tight. They are big misses for us, I can’t deny that, but I have confidence in the squad and we just have to dig in. Sometimes digging in is the only way, particularly in our league position, so I won’t complain too much.”
Mina has made only 11 appearances for Everton this season and is awaiting a decision on whether surgery will be required. Lampard said: “Our feeling is not but he’s going to see a specialist in the next day or so to confirm. We’re hoping it will be non-surgery.”
The manager, meanwhile, revealed he had not introduced the fine system he had at Chelsea because he wants players to take ownership of their fight for Premier League survival. Chelsea players were fined £20,000 for being late for training and £500 for every minute they were late to a team meeting, but Lampard has taken a different approach at Everton.
He said: “I read last week that I fined someone for tying their shoe laces, which is really false. We haven’t implemented a fine system since we’ve been here and our reason is that I want the players to own it. We are in a position where the most important thing for us is to get results to move up the table.
“If the players can own it and understand their behaviours, which I do lay out to them and I try to act myself by being on time and giving my all every day, then I have no need to bring in a fine system. Sometimes you go into a group that you feel needs some discipline in a certain form and sometimes you want to give the group ownership of it, and that’s what it is at the minute.”