Andre Gomes has returned to Everton’s first-team squad for their trip to Arsenal.
Gomes suffered an horrific ankle injury in November’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham that had been expected to sideline him for the remainder of this season.
But barely 105 days on, the Portugal international found himself named among the substitutes in the Blues’ team for Sunday’s clash at the Emirates Stadium.
Carlo Ancelotti took the decision to include Gomes after holding talks with the player following his return to first-team training earlier this week.
“This is personal, really personal. It’s really important for me to talk with him,” the Everton manager said on Friday.
“What I saw in training he was totally confident, without problem, he was not worried to have contact with team-mates.
“But I think it’s really important to talk with him. If he’s confident, in my opinion he can play without problem.”
However Ancelotti confirmed ahead of the north London encounter that Everton will be without Lucas Digne as the left-back recovers from a muscle strain.
He added: “Digne had a problem during the week and tried to train yesterday but was not confident.
“So I preferred to leave him at home to train and be ready for the next game.”