Everton absences from opening pre-season friendly victory explained

Sean Dyche admitted that Everton were impacted by injury and illness as they started their pre-season campaign with a victory.

The Toffees rounded off their training camp in the Alps with a 2-1 victory over Stade Nyonnais. Second-half goals from youngster Kadia Kouyate and a Neal Maupay penalty earned the visitors a triumph over the Swiss second-tier side.

But there were some players who travelled not involved in the clash, including Jordan Pickford and Andre Gomes - as well as under-21s Stanley Mills and Lewis Dobbin.

Dyche, speaking to Everton's club website, insisted that the scoreline against Nyon was irrelevant and the game was all about fitness.

The Blues boss said: "The victory is irrelevant, to be honest, because we need people fit. We’ve already had people go down injured – not seriously, it must be said. A couple with sickness, unfortunately, too.

"As you know, it’s been very hot here. Whether that’s affected their bodies a little bit, and there’s still a number of first-team players to either come back from fitness, or, of course, there are still players away and having a rest because they’ve played so much football over the summer.

"That being considered, at the end of a very tough week, it was a decent outing for us. There are a lot of young players here, don’t forget, and for a lot of them, it’s there first time with the first team. Trust me, they’ve found it a tough week, let’s say, so I wasn’t expecting miracles out of them."

Dominic Calvert-Lewin was another not involved. Everton are being cautious with the striker given the injury issues he has been ravaged with over the past two seasons.