Marco Silva will be without five first-team regulars for the visit of Everton to Craven Cottage this afternoon.

Timothy Castagne had surgery on his ankle problem earlier this week and Harrison Reed limped off before the end of the defeat by Aston Villa with a calf complaint last Saturday. Silva believes that Sasa Lukic is likely to only miss the meeting with the Toffees after picking up a knock at Villa Park, whilst Rodrigo Muniz and Reiss Nelson are probably both out of the season.

Asked about Fulham’s injury situation during this afternoon’s pre-match press conference at Motspur Park, Silva said:

Some concerns for us, unfortunately. As you saw, Harrison Reed came off in the last 10 minutes of the game [at Aston Villa last weekend]. Timothy Castagne had surgery last Tuesday and will be out until pre-season. Saša Luki? will be out too.

Castagne will be ready for pre-season. Not from the first day of pre-season, he will probably lose one week or 10 days. He will be able to play some friendlies during that period to be ready for the start of the Premier League. Harrison Reed has a calf injury. It’s not so serious like we expected during that moment of the game, but the only one who will probably be able to play this season again is Saša Luki?. He will probably be out for just one game, so let’s see if he’s back next week to help the team.

In a crucial moment of the season for us, we are going to be without these important players, but we have to be resilient and it’s always a chance for others to come in and show their quality.”