Is it crunch time for Jarrad Branthwaite?
It’s tough being an Evertonian, isn’t it?Last week, on the back of salvaging a point against Brentford, fans were in a buoyant mood, with a historic Merseyside derby coming up, and Evertonians wer...
Is it crunch time for Jarrad Branthwaite? It’s tough being an Evertonian, isn’t it? Last week, on the back of salvaging a point against Brentford, fans were in a buoyant mood, with a historic Merseyside derby coming up, and Evertonians were going into the fixture, for the first time in a good while, with confidence.
Of course, the bubble was burst in a cruel manner, but to compound the misery, Jarrad Branthwaite suffered a serious hamstring injury. Branthwaite arguably had his best game of the season on Sunday, albeit the obvious caveat is that there are not many to choose from — he has been limited to just 10 Premier League appearances, and just seven starts. He made six clearances and won six of seven duels, and was dominant aerially from set-pieces.
His presence was clearly missed right at the death, but we won’t tread over that old ground again. It was absolutely no surprise when, on Tuesday, reports began to emerge that Branthwaite’s season was over. I wrote in our ‘What We Learned’ article that it was to be expected, and it didn’t take a mystic Meg to figure it out.
On Wednesday, there was at least some positive news. Branthwaite will not be needing surgery. That means he should be able to take some part in pre-season.
Continue to the original source for the full article.