Everton are back in action this weekend against Southampton at St Mary's, but the big question still remains over one of their most important players.
Earlier in the week, it was revealed that James Rodriguez had suffered an injury in the opening minute of the Merseyside Derby after being fouled by Virgil van Dijk.
After looking like it could keep the Colombia international out of action for Sunday's trip to the south coast, Carlo Ancelotti later confirmed that the playmaker could still play against the Saints.
So how important could his inclusion be?
That was the latest discussion on our Royal Blue podcast, with host Phil Kirkbride asking both Dave Prentice and Gav Buckland about how crucial James Rodriguez is to the side.
Phil: Prenno, when the news emerged on Thursday that James was going to be out, what does that change in your outlook and hope for the match?
Dave: Oh you're disappointed. Carlo said in his press conference about how Southampton are a compact side that defend very deep and it obviously needs someone with a bit of ingenuity and spark to open them up.
Rodriguez provides that quite magnificently and has done all season. We're all absolutely in love with his style and his ability.
So yeah it was a big disappointment to hear that, but in hindsight from all we've heard today, you can't help but think Carlo has been a little bit cute.
Let's not go over that old derby ground again, I don't recognise the world we live in sometimes and I don't think I've ever seen a reaction to an injury quite as extreme as that, and I've seen all manner of serious injuries occur in Merseyside derbies on both sides of the divide.
So I think Carlo was being quite cute in many respects to cut through all that and say Rodriguez also sustained an injury. A hematoma, which is a word I only used to hear in episodes of Quincy way back in the good old days!
But it sounds like he's not been able to train as a result of that injury, and he highlighted that it was an incident with Virgil van Dijk in which he sustained the injury.
I think it was designed to take some of the spotlight away from Jordan Pickford and this ongoing Virgil van Dijk narrative, and it did briefly, it calmed down ever so slightly.
And in his press conference, with a raised eyebrow, he says that he has trained partially today and could be available on Sunday. Given that is is on Sunday with an extra day to prepare, I'd like to think that yes he will be available.
I think he will be very important, because he's already proven he's absolutely crucial to our ability to open up defences and score goals.
Phil: Gav, I know you're not a fan of assist stats, so needless to say you are deeply unaffectionate towards pre-assists, but I'll read you a stat anyway.
The ever-interesting EFC Statto Twitter account revealed that James Rodriguez has either scored, assisted or pre-assisted 10 of Everton's last 12 Premier League goals.
How concerned would you have been at this early stage of seeing a game without him?
Gav: Pre-assist stats notwithstanding, you don't have to be a statto to realise how important he is to us.
The attention that he gets from the opposition, as we saw in the opening 60 seconds of the last encounter is that he will attract attention in terms of marking.
He's one of the best crosses and corner takers I've ever seen at Everton. We saw it last week, that ball he put in for Richarlison was nearly perfect.
You can't welcome a signing of a top, top player - and at the same time not be disappointed if he's not in the team.
There's been a bit of, I wouldn't say mind games, but something going on this week maybe due to last Saturday.
If he didn't play on Sunday I'd be bitterly disappointed, moreso because on the opposite flank we've not got Richarlison as well.
Phil: Prenno, is Rodriguez our talisman now?
Dave: I don't know about talisman, but he's certainly very influential.
He's not really a player you can replace like-for-like, there's no-one else in the squad that has that god-given talent if you like.
He reminds me to a certain degree of the stature that Kevin Sheedy had back in the 80s and the set piece deliveries as well. We had top quality back up for Sheedy in Kevin Richardson who went on to win titles elsewhere.
But whenever Sheedy was fit, Richardson was dropped because he was so different to everything else we had. Rodriguez is very similar in that respect.
He brings a vision and class that you can't say anybody else in the squad could comprehensively replace.
He is a talisman in that respect, he does create opportunities, so yeah he is a one-off and a top class footballer.
