Allardyce not expecting busy January transfer window at resurgent Everton

Liverpool, December 19: Sam Allardyce is not expecting the January transfer window to be busy at Everton, although he would like to sign an additional forward.

With Seamus Coleman, Ross Barkley, Yannick Bolasie and Leighton Baines all on the recovery trail, Allardyce has a clutch of senior players making their way back to full fitness.

After Dominic Calvert-Lewin again impressed in Monday's 3-1 Premier League win against Swansea City, the former England boss is in no rush to make further signings to a large squad that has no European commitments after exiting the Europa League at the group stage.

"We have around 30 pros, so we have a lot of young pros under 23 who are finding their way in the Premier League," Allardyce told Sky Sports after Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wayne Rooney wrapped up victory to lift his team up to ninth place.

"They're frustrated about not playing enough and we have players injured who are coming back - Coleman, Barkley, Bolasie, Baines - that will make us so much better as a squad, players with Premier League experience.

"That's our 30th game this season so the quicker we get the squad into place, the more I can look at the market and see what we need.

"Another goalscorer, yes, but I'm very pleased with Dominic. Is there a striker good enough for Everton in January? If everyone gets fit we don't have to do too much in January."

Everton on the up... #EVESWA pic.twitter.com/BAYBc1WnK6

— Premier League (@premierleague) December 18, 2017

Allardyce has overseen three wins and a draw from four Premier League games since taking charge at Goodison Park, but the ex-Sunderland and West Ham manager still sees room for improvement.

"I think from our point of view it was a disappointing first half and we needed to see more from the players," Allardyce said.

"We changed in the second half with the way we pushed up to get in the game and then we put on Tom Davies. That got us in the game a bit more. You need a special player sometimes to pull something out of the game and that was Gylfi.

"It's a great three points considering how poorly we played in the first half. I think sometimes we play with some negativity, sideways and backwards too much. We put 10 balls back to our goalkeeper instead of being brave enough to go forward and put the ball in the right areas."

Another top result tonight for the lads! Happy days.. #COYB 💙

— Tony Bellew (@TonyBellew) December 18, 2017

Defeat leaves Swansea four points from safety after suffering a sixth successive away defeat, while an early injury collected by striker Wilfried Bony made it another miserable match for Paul Clement.

"First half we played some good football, controlled the game, scored a decent goal from a set play," Clement told Sky Sports.

"Then a bad moment just before half-time when we should be managing the ball better. They got the ball to Rooney too easily, [Aaron] Lennon wasn't tracked and [Roque Mesa] tackled from the wrong side, a gift.

"The nature of the second goal - it is a wonderful goal from Sigurdsson - but we were too open and it came from our own corner. We got in a mess after taking short corner and if you give players of that quality time and space they punish you."

Not a good start for the #Swans. We’re forced into an early change…

✅➡️ @tammyabraham
❌⬅️ @wilfriedbony #EVESWA 0️⃣-0️⃣ (4’)

— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) December 18, 2017

Clement's side face Crystal Palace in a huge Premier League clash on Saturday (December 23), but Bony could be an absentee.

"He's injured his hamstring, I didn't see how he did it," Clement added. "He signalled he had to come off and he has hurt his hamstring. We don't know the extent of it."

Source: OPTA