Everton have confirmed that Theo Walcott has been released from hospital after picking up a bizarre head injury against Manchester City.
Walcott was making his first Premier League start of the season as a surprise inclusion in Marco Silva’s line up.
However things ended rather prematurely for the former Arsenal man after he was struck in the back of the head by a Raheem Sterling cross inside two minutes.
Walcott then fell to the ground and looked severely dazed before receiving attention from the Everton medical team.
They took several minutes to assess him before making the decision to stretcher him off.
Everton updated fans via their Twitter in the second half with a statement which read: “Theo Walcott has been taken to hospital for a precautionary assessment of the head injury he sustained in the first half.”
After they were beaten 3-1 by the champions, they issued a further update which made for much more positive reading.
The second statement read: “Theo Walcott has been discharged from hospital.
“The club’s medical team will now follow concussion protocols as his recovery continues.”
Walcott was replaced by Alex Iwobi after leaving the field, and the Nigerian was eventually subbed off himself by Silva as Everton went in search of a winner, despite starting the match on the bench.
Man City took the lead when Gabriel Jesus latched onto Kevin De Bruyne’s inviting delivery into the danger zone and headed past Jordan Pickford.
But Everton were level before half-time when Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed Seamus Coleman’s goal-bound effort into the net.
Riyad Mahrez restored the visitors’ lead in the second half with a free-kick which arrowed into the bottom corner.
Raheem Sterling then put the icing on the cake with the help of goal-line technology.
The win means City reduce the gap to Liverpool at the top of the table to five points after seven matches.
Everton sit 15th in the table and will need to improve their results if Silva is to keep his job.