Ronald Koeman has confirmed that Leighton Baines and James McCarthy will both miss Everton’s weekend encounter with West Ham.
It had been hoped that Baines would be available to return in time for the visit of Slaven Bilic’s side to Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon.
The England defender last featured for the Blues in September before suffering a hamstring injury during a behind-closed-doors game with Wigan.
McCarthy, meanwhile, is braced for another spell on the sidelines with the same injury, picked up in training after starting back-to-back games for the Republic of Ireland.
“Baines is still out and McCarthy’s out,” said Koeman.
“[James has] A slight hamstring problem that came out of after he played for Ireland.
“Everybody knows what my reaction was at that time. The boy needs training before starting to play but we’ll know in two weeks.”