Felliani in agony...

By The Nark End
February 9 2010

Marouane Felliani,as expected,will miss the big game against chelsea...

Marouane Fellaini will miss Wednesday night’s game against Chelsea with an ankle injury.

The Belgian international left Anfield in the first-half during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool after a two-footed challenge by Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

He had an x-ray – which revealed no broken bones - immediately after leaving the pitch at the weekend, but David Moyes told the media in his pre-Chelsea press briefing that the midfielder requires further assessment.

“We sent him this morning to get checked by a specialist, but the trains were cancelled and they couldn’t get to London so we’ve had to move it to Thursday,” Moyes revealed.

“He’s got a badly swollen ankle. We’ve had it scanned but we can’t read the scan until it goes down a little bit anyway.

“He’s not going to be available for the Chelsea game and I can’t give you any more details until we get a look form the specialist.

Moyes said he may be tempted to call on Mikel Arteta to replace Fellaini - but also pointed out he does have options in that position.

"I have not made my mind up about whether I will start Mikel or not," he revealed. "We also have Jack Rodwell who could play there. I could also move Phil Neville or John Heitinga into midfield so I have that option."

Steven Pienaar will also miss the Premier League clash through suspension after picking up two yellow cards against Rafa Benitez’s side.

Moyes also reported the remainder of his men came out of the 213th Merseyside derby unscathed ready for the visit of Carlo Ancelotti’s side. Phil Jagielka (knee) and Tony Hibbert (hernia) remain sidelined.

“We’ve got more people coming back so hopefully what some of them need is some match practice and some game time,” added Moyes, who has been able to add the likes of Mikel Arteta and Victor Anichebe to his squad in the last couple of weeks.

Everton from: Howard, Nash, Neville, Coleman, Heitinga, Senderos, Distin, Baines, Osman, Arteta, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, Donovan, Gosling, Cahill, Saha, Yakubu, Vaughan, Anichebe, Duffy, Baxter, Forshaw.