David Moyes provides Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall injury update after Chelsea clash | OneFootball

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s return to Stamford Bridge came to an early end after the midfielder had to limp off the pitch with a hamstring issue after 16 minutes.

Dewsbury-Hall was expected to make the difference for the Toffees, having scored three goals in his last four games before the trip to London. However, the 27-year-old went down off the ball and seemed to be clutching the back of his leg.

He was able to hobble off the pitch and was replaced by Charly Alcaraz. David Moyes, appearing visibly concerned on the touchline, later revealed that Dewsbury-Hall was not at 100% going into the game.

“I’ll find out later what it is, he had a bit of tightness already and then he felt it during the game,” the manager told Sky Sports.

He later told BBC Match of the Day: “Losing Kiernan was a blow to us but I thought we adapted quite well.

"It disrupted us for about 10, 15 minutes. I thought we'd started the game well. In that period, we just lost the goal… it’s hard to be disappointed with a lot of the stuff we've done. But I'm disappointed because we didn't win, disappointed because we've got a couple injuries, but not disappointed with how the players are going about it."

Dewsbury-Hall’s absence was felt almost immediately as Chelsea took the lead just four minutes later through Cole Palmer before doubling their lead at the stroke of half-time through Malo Gusto.

Despite a few close chances for the Toffees to claw their way back into the game, Enzo Maresca’s side held on to secure a 2-0 win. It was the sixth defeat of the league season for Everton, who have now dropped down to eighth in the standings.

After the game, Moyes revealed that Jack Grealish was also not at his best physically. The Manchester City loanee endured a quiet night at Stamford Bridge and was replaced by Tyler Dibling six minutes before the end.

"Jack felt his hamstring, so we just need to be careful with these boys,” Moyes added.

Reader Comments (1)

It might just be my limited medical knowledge but it sounds like they needed to be careful but not careful enough to rest them at the first inkling especially with a view to losing Ndiaye and Gana for almost a month and having Alcaraz, Gana, Iroegbunam and even Dibling available for this game.

As an aside, while Grealish obviously offers something we've only had through Ndiaye and that Man City would want to recover a large part of their 100M outlay, what sort of transfer fee do you think we should pay for a 30 year old on very high wages and would this affect funds we might have for a right back and striker? I have this horrible feeling that City might just say, "Alright 25M and Harrison Armstrong".