EVERTON and Manchester United go head-to-head tonight for a place in the last-four of the EFL Cup.
United are coming into this one on the back of a 6-2 thrashing of Leeds, but the Toffees are in great form themselves after winning three games on the spin.
- Start time: 8pm GMT
- Live stream: Sky Sports Main Event/NOW TV
- Radio: talkSPORT
- Everton XI: To follow
- Man Utd XI: To follow
Follow all the action with our live blog below…
- James Orr
MAGUIRE ON TONIGHT’S GAME
“We know how tough it is to go to Goodison and get the victory. We played well that day even though we fell behind like we have done in a lot of our away games. We take confidence from that result and we know if we play to our ability we can go there and win the game.”
- James Orr
HARRY MAGUIRE ON WINNING SILVERWARE
“It’s really important this season that we try and get our hands on silverware and win a trophy, at this club we’re expected to win trophies and we go into this game full of confidence from the result [last weekend]. We’ve got to start winning trophies, we haven’t won in the last two or three years now and it’s important. It’s an important competition for ourselves to build momentum and confidence. It’s an important game and we’re going into it to try and win the game.”
- James Orr
EYES ON THE PRIZE
- James Orr
MATCH FACTS CONTINUED
Manchester United are looking to reach the League Cup semi-final in consecutive seasons for the first time since doing so in 2008/09 and 2009/10, winning 3-0 against League Two side Colchester United in last season’s quarter-final.
Everton are the top scoring team in this season’s League Cup, netting 12 goals so far. They have only scored more goals in six previous campaigns in the competition, most recently in 2015/16 (13).
Since the start of the 2017/18 season, only Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin (10) has scored more League Cup goals than Man Utd’s Marcus Rashford (7).
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won all six of his away League Cup matches, winning two with Cardiff City and four with Manchester United, with three of the four with Man Utd coming at Premier League opponents – Chelsea, Man City and Brighton.
- James Orr
MATCH FACTS
The last League Cup meeting between Everton and Manchester United was back in November 1993 in the fourth round, with the Red Devils winning 2-0 at Goodison Park with goals from Ryan Giggs and Mark Hughes.
Manchester United are looking to win consecutive away matches against Everton in all competitions for the first time since September 2007 (three in a row), while the Red Devils have only beaten Everton twice away from home in one season once before, doing so in 1993/94 (once in the league, once in the League Cup).
Everton have reached the League Cup quarter-final in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1986/87 and 1987/88, with the Toffees losing on penalties after a 2-2 draw with Leicester City at this stage last season.
- James Orr
MATA CARABAO CUP STATS
- James Orr
DOUCOURE ON TONIGHT
“These last three wins are very good for our confidence; we know we can beat anyone in this league. We proved that already. We beat Tottenham in the first game of the season and we just beat three big teams. United is another one and we want to beat them on Wednesday. There is a big rivalry between us and United. They have got a lot of quality players. We need to be strong defensively, and to score goals. At the moment, we are defending very well and we can win on Wednesday. The manager told us the importance of the game and we are going to give 100 per cent, always. We believe we can win a trophy this season.”
- James Orr
EVERTON V MAN UNITED HEAD TO HEAD
Manchester United have a good record against Everton and have won 89 games out of a total of 204 matches played between the two times. Everton have troubled the Red Devils on several occasions in the past and have managed 70 victories against the Premier League giants.
The previous meeting between the two sides took place in the Premier League last month and ended in an emphatic 3-1 victory for Manchester United. Bruno Fernandes was virtually unplayable on the day and will want to make his mark on the day.
- James Orr
EVERTON V MAN UTD
- James Orr
GOOD EVENING
Welcome to our live blog of Everton v Manchester United
Everton will be looking to build on their 2-1 win over Arsenal and secure passage to their first semi-final since 2016.
Manchester United last won this competition in 2017 and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side will hope to build on their recent 6-2 thrashing of Leeds.
Carlo Ancelotti is likely to start star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs, the hosts are less likely to make sweeping changes than their counterparts.
The Toffees’ ability to rotate is limited due to a raft of injuries to Lucas Digne, Allan, Fabian Delph and Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
Midfield maestro Andre Gomes is a doubt after missing Saturday’s win over Arsenal with a hamstring strain.
James Rodriguez also missed the game and will not feature tonight.
Scott McTominay is a doubt after he limped off during the win over Leeds with a groin problem; Luke Shaw is also doubt after coming off in the same fixture.
Solskjaer is likely to rotate his squad due to the unforgiving nature of the fixtures over the Christmas period; players such as Alex Telles, Edinson Cavani, Donny van de Beek and Paul Pogba are all pushing for starts.
Juan Mata who starred in the previous round against Brighton and Dean Henderson despite his howler against Sheffield United are also expected to start.
Eric Bailly, Nemanja Matic and Mason Greenwood are all pushing for starts; however Marcus Rashford may retain his place after scoring five goals in six away league games this season.
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