Everton are preparing to return to action this weekend when West Ham make the visit to Goodison Park.
It will be Rafa Benitez against David Moyes in the dugout once again on Sunday afternoon, but perhaps not in the way many might have expected even just a few months ago.
The Blues headed into the international break in strong fashion thanks to a draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford, in a game that so easily could have led to three points on another day.
That left Everton in fifth place in the fledgling Premier League table despite a number of injury concerns for recent matches.
The international break has been a good opportunity for players to return to action, however, and the squad have been pictured at Finch Farm once again in preparation for the club's next outing.
We've spotted five things from the Blues' latest round of training images.
Injury returns
As confirmed by Benitez earlier on Thursday, there were some very welcome injury returns to the latest set of Everton training images.
Seamus Coleman has been unavailable for his side since the win over Burnley last month, but he's now back in full sessions with his teammates in preparation for the visit of West Ham.
There had also been some concern over the other full-back position recently, with Lucas Digne returning early from France duty over the course of the break.
However, he was similarly involved in full training and looks to be well on his way to giving Everton a welcome boost ahead of the weekend.
Alex Iwobi, who missed the last match against Manchester United, was another who returned to the sessions - while fellow forward Richarlison was also pictured at Finch Farm.
He looked to be taking part in individual sessions for the time-being, with Benitez giving no real indication as of yet over the Brazil international's fitness situation.
Perhaps he's just trying to keep David Moyes guessing just a little bit longer...
Absences continue
Despite a number of key players being involved again, it's worth noting there were still a few absences from the latest set of images.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin hasn't played for Everton since their win over Brighton at the end of August and, while he was pictured in individual sessions before the international break, it seems he has not re-joined full training as of yet.
Andre Gomes is similarly still not involved in the latest sessions either as he continues to recover from his own injury issue.
Yerry Mina's absence from the pictures is easily explained as he is still away on international duty with Colombia, as they are set to take on Ecuador on Thursday evening.
Jarrad Branthwaite was also absent from the images released by Everton this week, but he has been on international duty with England U20s over the course of the break.
Gordon talks
Benitez has clearly been impressed with Anthony Gordon in recent weeks, making sure to make a point to praise the winger's attitude in training particularly after games against Norwich and Manchester United.
The manager told evertonfc.com recently: “He is keen to learn and always ready to improve parts of his game. He knew he had to be more consistent and work harder with and without the ball and he is doing that.
“We are talking about a young player but he has the potential to be a great player if he continues working the same way."
And the latest round of training images show that work clearly underway.
There are a lot of pictures which show Gordon getting an individual chat with Benitez at Finch Farm, perhaps going over tactics and things the winger can improve.
While the manager is impressed with the 20-year-old, he's also away of a need to keep him grounded - while the player himself is showing an exemplary attitude to work hard and earn his chances.
That could bode very well for the future if it continues.
Astley involved
In the last few sets of training images, there haven't really been many youngsters involved.
That has been for a number of different factors, including the under-23s playing a match shortly before one of the batches of pictures was last taken.
However, these images from the latest Everton session show at least one young player managing to work his way into first-team plans.
U23s captain Ryan Astley can be seen taking part in the senior session as both Mina and Branthwaite are seemingly absent from Finch Farm.
The 20-year-old has been a staple member of David Unsworth's squad for some time now and has stepped up impressively over the course of the season so far to wear the armband.
He will surely hope that he can keep having the opportunity to impress Benitez over the course of the 2021/22 season.
Defensive organisation
It wasn't just individual conversations that the boss was conducting throughout the session.
Throughout his short time in charge of the club so far, Benitez has been seen taking a very active role in training sessions in terms of directing those around him.
And the latest round of images shows that he particularly took some of his defensive players to one side to seemingly give them a little bit of tactical instruction.
Michael Keane, Ben Godfrey and Seamus Coleman can be clearly seen in the pictures - while one player is hidden from view slightly by a teammate in front of him.
If that concealed star is Digne, could that potentially be a hint over Everton's back four against West Ham? After all, Mina is in action for Colombia on Thursday night before having to travel back from South America.
It's yet to be seen what decision is made over the 27-year-old, or whether his French international teammate is even the player pictured on this particular occasion.
But it could be an interesting early insight.
