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Coleman makes his return to the matchday squad

As suspected, given Everton photographed his shirt in the away dressing room, Seamus Coleman is back in the matchday squad. That is a bit of a surprise but I suspect it is his presence that Moyes is keen to make use of in the dressing room as opposed to there being any expectation of him getting onto the pitch.

Coleman suffered a hamstring injury in the game at Man Utd in November and stepped up his training this week but it would be a surprise if he is ready for the rigours of a first team game.

Emery: Everton is a great club

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery, one of the true gentlemen of football, pays a classy tribute to Everton in his programme notes.

The Spaniard writes:

Everton is a great club. A squad with plenty of good players and a fan base hungry for success. No one must have more hunger than us. In the moment we feel normal the fact of winning we are in risk. We must give plenty of value to each step, each and every single achievement and think about the next one just the next day. Great goals come battle after battle.

I would like to welcome David Moyes, his players and his staff. Always it is a challenge to play David's teams and a pleasure to come up against him again. In West Ham and in Everton, his teams are always very, very difficult to play against and always we mus be focused and clear in our way.

Moyes on Grealish: I just told him what I thought of him

Staying with Grealish, Moyes spoke to us reporters about him on Friday, including on his red card against Wolves, the player's reaction and the fallout.

Moyes said: “I didn’t look for an apology. I just told him what I thought of him and that was it really. I didn’t expect it. Probably the words I said to him were strong enough that he didn’t need anything you know.

“He certainly let us all down with his sending-off. We told him that after the game. And he was well told by the players inside the dressing room as well.

“But it can happen, you can get sent-off. I thought he was stupid to applaud the referee but we have actually seen other incidents which weren’t sending-offs or bookings or second yellow cards. So there you go.”

Moyes, who would love to keep hold of Grealish and the player, who has credited Moyes and Everton with rekindling his love for football, also held praise for the playmaker's recent form.

He concluded: “He has given the crowd here something new. But his form had definitely dropped, he had a month or so when his form had dropped off and he hadn’t been as good, but I think there have been some signs that he is maybe getting back to things being a little bit better. I am hoping that we see that in the coming weeks.”

FULL STORY HERE

The return of Jack Grealish

The extent of the challenge ahead for Everton will be laid bare when the team news drops in just over an hour. What we know, from David Moyes' press conference on Friday, is that Everton will be without EIGHT senior players.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Tim Iroegbunam, Carlos Alcaraz, Seamus Coleman and Jarrad Branthwaite are all expected to remain out injured, while Michael Keane is suspended and Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye are due to face Morocco in Senegal's Africa Cup of Nations final today.

But Jack is back to face his former club after serving his one game ban. Everton could do with a big display from him today.

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