Everton midfielder Osman out for six weeks

Everton midfielder Leon Osman has been ruled out for up to six weeks with an ankle injury.

Osman suffered the problem in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Merseyside rivals Liverpool at Goodison Park and is not expected back before early December.

The 29-year-old’s injury further reduces the midfield options available to Everton manager David Moyes as Jack Rodwell and Marouane Fellaini are also currently sidelined.

With those injures in mind, Moyes is hoping Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta will recover from a hamstring problem in time to feature in Saturday’s Premier League clash at Tottenham.

“Leon Osman has a bad ankle injury which will keep him out for four to six weeks which is a real blow,” Moyes told Everton’s website.

“We’ll also have to have a close look at Arteta’s fitness as well. There is no getting away from it, we have another bad set of injuries like we had last year.

“Hopefully they will not be as bad as that in terms of the length of time the players will be missing for.”