Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed a triple injury blow after Mason Holgate, Yerry Mina and Fabian Delph were ruled out for the rest of the campaign.
Speaking in his press conference today ahead of Monday's trip to Sheffield United, the Blues boss said all three players will miss the final two games.
But he issued confident backing to Jarrad Branthwaite, 18, and insisted the youngster will benefit from further experience.
Asked about Holgate, Mina and Delph, Ancelotti said: "All three are out for the rest of the season.
"It's only 10 days, so they will not be able to recover before the end of the season. I'm disappointed of course. When a player has an injury, we are always disappointed.
"But unfortunately it can happen, in this last period we have had a lot of games. We are lucky that we didn't have a lot of problems in this aspect."
When quizzed about specific defensive concerns in the absence of Holgate and Mina, Ancelotti highlighted an encouraging performance from Branthwaite in the 1-1 draw against Aston Villa.
The Italian said: "Of course [Holgate and Mina] are two important players. But we have the possibility to give experience to a really young one [Branthwaite] who did really well in the last game.
"Honestly I have to say that against Aston Villa he did really well, considering the fact that he is really young and didn't have experience.
"He is showing in play, character, personality and concentration that he can be a really good player. I'm sure of this."
Holgate was forced off after just 16 minutes of the game against Villa, with a shin injury initially sustained in the defeat to Spurs earlier this month.
As the ECHO reported yesterday, it was expected that he would miss the Sheffield clash as well as Bournemouth next weekend.
Mina remains absent following a muscle strain he picked up against Wolves while Delph is still sidelined with a thigh issue.
