Injuries mar Everton’s impressive win over City

Everton's 2-1 victory over Manchester City in the first leg of their Capital One Cup (League Cup) semi-final came at a cost with the trio of Romelu Lukaku, Tom Cleverley and Seamus Coleman sustaining injuries during the contest on Wednesday.

Striker Lukaku, the joint top-scorer in the Premier League on 15 goals, headed home the winner for the Toffees before hurting himself, and manager Roberto Martinez is hoping the in-form Belgian will be back in action soon.

“Romelu took a knock to his ankle and he will need assessing. I don’t know if he will be available at the weekend but I don’t expect anything too serious,” the Spaniard told the club website.

Everton finished the game with 10 men after Coleman tweaked his calf muscle late in the game, with the manager having used up his substitutions.

“Seamus is probably the most serious of the three. He has pulled his calf and that type of injury usually takes three or four weeks to fully recover,” Martinez said.

Cleverly suffered a recurrence of the calf injury he picked up against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend. The midfielder had to sit out for more than two months due to a ligament damage before returning to action in November and has only 11 league appearances so far this season.

“Tom picked up a knock to his calf against Spurs and it flared up at half-time,” Martinez said.

The manager is also not setting too much store by Wednesday’s win, as a 1-0 victory by City (after extra time) in the return leg will be enough to send Manuel Pellegrini’s men through.

“It (the first-leg win) means nothing. We had to win our first leg and we’ll now have to prepare for a very interesting second leg,” said Martinez whose team are currently 11th in the Premier League.

Everton face Dagenham & Redbridge F.C in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday and return to Premier League action against third-placed Manchester City on Wednesday.