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Cape Town - Everton manager Marco Silva has downplayed fears over the fitness of full-back Lucas Digne after he pulled up with an apparent leg injury at the weekend.
The Frenchman picked up a knock during the second half of the Toffees' 1-0 home win over Watford on Saturday and was withdrawn with 17 minutes left on the clock.
The 26-year-old had a problem with his leg and asked to be taken off, but Silva played down any fears that Digne could be out for an extended period of time.
He told Evertontv: "We hope it is nothing really special. He started to feel a bit more tired [in the muscle] and gave the sign to me to make the change. "Let's see in the next few days [the extent of Digne's problem] but we hope it is nothing special."
Silva was preparing to introduce new signing Alex Iowbi off the bench when Digne asked to come off so he used his final substitution by sending on Mason Holgate and switching Seamus Coleman to left-back.
The Toffees ran out 1-0 winners at Goodison Park thanks to Bernard's early goal that was set up by a superb 50-yard raking pass from Digne that sent the Brazilian scurrying beyond the Watford backline.
The Everton defence then withstood some late pressure from the Hornets to record their second clean sheet of the season - and the eighth from their last 10 Premier League games.
Digne, who was voted Everton's player and players' player of the season in his first campaign with the club last term, has played in all of those matches so his fitness could be crucial for the rest of the campaign.
He has had hamstring issues throughout his career, missing five matches for Barcelona in March 2018 with a flare-up, but managed a similar situation last season really well.
He limped out of France's final training session before their Euro 2020 victory over Moldova in March and missed the match, but did start for Everton against West Ham a few days later.
