Everton have been struggling with a mild injury crisis over the last three months, but with players now returning from injury there has been no better time for them as the Toffees take on some of the Premier League giants in their upcoming fixtures.

Between now and Christmas, Everton are set to face Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, all within their next six fixtures, and will be hoping to grab as many points as they can from these huge games to climb into a much better position in the table.

Rafa Benitez's side currently sit 11th in the table with just four wins so far this season, and with such tough fixtures coming up for the Toffees they will be thankful for the returns from injury with the likes of Richarlison and centre back Yerry Mina.

Everton have been ruthlessly exposed at the back over the last few months with Benitez's side conceding seven goals in their last four games, with an embarrassing 5-2 defeat to Watford contributing to most of those goals.

It appears that most of Everton's defensive issues come from set pieces, and zonal marking, with this being something that the manager has addressed. Everton's expected goals against from set-pieces is 4.0 and tied for second-worst in the league.

Responding to this, the Spanish coach said; “The main thing for us is to make sure we attack the ball and show some character when we have to challenge, we’re not doing that. It’s not just zonal marking, if it’s man-to-man, then they block your defender and you could have a man free.

“I think it’s a question of how to defend, show character and the aggression you have to show when defending a setpiece.”

With all this considered it is no wonder that fans were buzzing that Yerry Mina made his return to training at Finch Farm last week.

Rafa could solve one of his biggest problems in conceding too many cheap goals, by unleashing the £18m rated beast against Man City in their next game.

The club took to Instagram to announce the highly anticipated return of the defender, with the caption reading: "Return of the King."

Standing at 6 foot 5, the defender who has been described as a "monster" by Michael Ball, possesses all the physical traits to improve them from dead-ball situations.

The Toffees seem to be on the other side of their injury disasters, with key players back in training ahead of the Premier League's return this weekend and Dominic Calvert Lewin's imminent return after being sidelined with a quadriceps injury in August.

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