Andy van der Maybe?

Andy van der Meyde sat out last night's 0-0 draw with Preston as he suffered a recurrence of the groin strain that kept him out for much of last season.

Everton's enigmatic Dutchman, who has been linked with a move to Torino, felt some discomfort in his groin after the Port Vale game and now looks likely to miss the game with Celtic on Sunday.

As Alan Irvine explained: “Andy has a problem with the same area of the groin that kept him out for a long time last season.” He continued: “We will wait a few days to see the extent but he was feeling enough for us not to take any chances with him at this stage."

So it's anyone's guess when we'll next see van der Meyde in action, which is a real shame as his virtuoso performance at the weekend looked promising for the forthcoming season.

One player who may also miss the game at Celtic is, new signing, Joleon Lescott.

He made the trip up to Deepdale last night but didn't feel well enough to come off the bench as he's still struggling to shake off this virus he's got.

Incidentally, why do people always try to shake off a virus? Surely a few days with your feet up watching Seinfeld DVDs would be more effective that any sort of bodily vibration!

Lescott is expected to resume training tomorrow so hopefully we'll get a glimpse of him on Sunday before anyone starts suggesting that the whole situation is turning into ‘a bit of a Kroldrup'!