Everton boss Sean Dyche was delighted with Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s return for their 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace.
The striker had been missing for the past ten games due to injury.
“Dom will get fitter and sharper but he’s done great today,” Dyche told evertontv. “We’ve protected him the best we can, we wanted him to be clear in his mind and he was today.
“He’s worked very hard and that will do him the world of good to lock that in.
“To be honest, we were looking at taking him off earlier as a precaution but because he looked a threat and because you’re always thinking with striker’s like him that something could drop in the box for him and he could score.
“Even with 10 men he was doing a shift for us. He’s a powerful boy so we wanted to leave him on as best we could.
“The good news is we’ve got him through that – he’s got through it and he’s clear after the game.”
Dyche continued: “The biggest thing from our point of view was to get him back as fit as he possibly can be. His stats haven’t always been where they need to be on his journey back in – he’s maybe been put in early or wanted to be put in early.
“We’ve been as patient as we can with him and he’s been terrific because it’s not easy for him.
“He’s been working so hard and he just got a little niggle and we had to go back to the beginning and start the process again but he’s worked really hard and I’m really pleased.
“It’s a different process now because he’s done a lot of work to make sure he’s as strong as possible without playing the real stuff. Now we’re layering up on it. He definitely looks after himself. He’s a very good athlete. Now it’ll be about recovery and recuperation so he’s ready to go again.”
