Sean Dyche has confirmed Everton will be without James Garner for up to a month.

Garner picked up a fresh back problem during the October international break, having last featured for Dyche’s side in their home stalemate with Newcastle.

The midfielder has suffered persistent issues and was sidelined for several months during his debut campaign at Goodison Park at the start of Dyche’s reign.

And the Blues’ manager confirmed on Thursday that Garner now faces a fresh spell out of action while Tim Iroegbunam also misses the weekend trip to Southampton.

He said: “Jimmy Garner is very unfortunate, he has a longer-term injury.

“I mentioned last week about getting an assessment from the specialist, they have advised a period to slow him down and take him off the grass.

“So we will have to wait and see on that one, but it’s going to be weeks, not days. It’s a back injury that we have to be careful with.

“It’s going to be beyond a month, I am sure of that, and with Tim having a broken stress bone in his foot, that’s a challenge – two young good midfielders out for us.”

However Dyche remains hopeful that Dwight McNeill and Abdoulaye Doucoure will be back in contention for the clash on the South Coast after their recent concerns.

McNeil made way for eventual scorer Beto last weekend with a knee complaint in last weekend’s draw with Fulham, where Doucoure also picked up a knock

He added: “Dwight has got a chance, we are hopeful. He’s done a bit of work with the physio team today so we are hopeful about him.

“Doucs had a situation but he was back out on the grass today so we will see how that reacts tomorrow.”