Preview: Fleetwood Town v Everton

23 September 2020

Fleetwood Town face Everton on Wednesday 23 September at Highbury Stadium in the third round of the Carabao Cup, and we have all you need to know ahead of the 7:45pm kick-off in our match preview.

Fixture: Fleetwood Town v Everton

Competition: Carabao Cup Round Three

Date: Wednesday 23 September 2020

Kick-off: 19:45

Venue: Highbury Stadium, Park Avenue, Fleetwood, FY7 6TX

Match officials: Jeremy Simpson (Referee), Richard Wild and Mark Dwyer (Assistant Referees), Oliver Langford (Fourth Official)

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FLEETWOOD TOWN

Fleetwood Town head into this third round tie against The Blues after beating both Wigan Athletic and Port Vale respectively in the opening two rounds.

Fleetwood managed to beat Wigan Athletic 3-2 in the first round of the Carabao Cup at Highbury. After going two goals down, a Ched Evans brace and another from Josh Morris saw Fleetwood earn their spot in the second round of the competition.

In the next round, The Cod Army got past Port Vale after they took the lead through a first-half deflected Paddy Madden strike, but Vale pulled the game back level through Danny Whitehead soon after the restart. Ten minutes from the end, Josh Morris struck the ball with venom at Dino Visser’s goal, scoring the winning goal in the process.

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EVERTON

Premier League side Everton come to the Fylde Coast for this Carabao Cup tie, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. They come into the game on the back of three straight wins, across two different competitions.

The Blues overcame Sky Bet League Two side Salford City to earn their place in the third round of this competition, with goals coming from Michael Keane, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Moise Kean on the night.

Last time out, Everton played out a high-scoring Premier League fixture against recently promoted West Brom, which they won 5-2 at Goodison Park. Dominic Calvert-Lewin bagged a hat-trick in that game, with James Rodriguez scoring his first for the club on the stroke of half-time. Defender Keane also scored in that one, which sees him come into the Cod Army cup tie after scoring in consecutive games.

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COACHES QUOTES AHEAD OF THE GAME – JOEY BARTON

Head coach Joey Barton sat down with the media on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of his side’s Carabao Cup Round Three clash against Everton at Highbury Stadium.

“The league for us will always be the priority, but to give a great account of ourselves live on TV against one of the best coaches in the world, and an Everton side that are on the up, then it will be an exciting occasion.

“Even if Everton rotate, you are playing against household names, international footballers, and Premier League players, I see it as a challenge and look forward to the occasion. We have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“When we cross the white line, we’ve got to do our town and club proud. We’ll have a couple of plans to try and disrupt them, but we want to beat Everton. We aren’t here to just take part; we’ll know that we have to be excellent.”

Watch his interview on our iFollow HERE.

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ONE TO WATCH – MICHAEL KEANE

Normally, the player to watch is an attacker on a scoring streak, but this time, its central defender Michael Keane. The 27-year-old defender has had a prolific start to the season for the Blues as he has scored two goals in three games and has kept two clean sheets in that time as well.

Keane – who started his career at Manchester United – made the move to Everton back in July 2017 and equalled a club record fee of £30 million. The England defender penned a five-year deal at Goodison Park.

Since joining The Blues, Keane has made a total of 103 appearances and has scored five goals in that time.

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Match Reports

Report: Fleetwood fought valiantly in loss to Premier League side Everton

23 September 2020

Fleetwood Town fought valiantly in their loss to Premier League side Everton in the third round of the Carabao Cup at Highbury Stadium.

Everton – who fielded a very strong side - started out the game with two quick goals from Richarlison, but Fleetwood grew into the game soon after. Goals from Mark Duffy and Callum Camps brought the side back in the game, but goals from Alex Iwobi, Bernard and Moise Kean sealed the tie.

The first chance of the game fell to the visitors as Niels Nkounkou ran down the left wing, crossed the ball into the Fleetwood box towards Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but he couldn’t quite get on the end of it.

After the first chance, both sides started to settle into the game, with neither able to create any gilt-edged chances.

In the 21^st minute, Iwobi worked a yard of space about 20-yards and decided to try his luck, with his effort striking Alex Cairns’ crossbar.

Soon after, Everton broke the deadlock as Bernard spotted the run of Richarlison inside the Fleetwood box, clipped the ball in and the Brazilian forward put the ball past a diving Cairns.

The Blues made it two after 34 minutes as Richarlison played a one-two with Iwobi, after dribbling past a few Fleetwood players, before poking the ball into the net.

In the added time just before the half, Cairns pulled off a brilliant one-handed after Calvert-Lewin plucked the ball out the sky and tried his luck inside the Fleetwood box.

Both teams came out the blocks in the second half and Fleetwood managed to halve the deficit soon after the restart as Jordan Pickford miskicked a clearance, the Cod Army frontline spotted the error and substitute Duffy was there to knock it in.

In the 48^th minute, Iwobi extended the Everton lead back to two as Everton substitute Anthony Gordon spotted Iwobi inside the Fleetwood box, played it across to him and he slotted the ball home.

Fleetwood has claims for a penalty waved away just after as Ched Evans seemed to have had contact with Lucas Digne but the referee waved the claims away, letting play carry on.

Town brought themselves back into the game for the second time before the hour mark as Camps tried an audacious attempt, after Duffy’s delivery, with the overhead kick finding the back of the net.

With just over 20 minutes to go, Cairns was forced into another brilliant save as Bernard tried his luck from 20-yards, but the goalkeeper was well aware and pushed it to safety.

Everton added another goal to the games tally in the 72^nd minute as the ball is played to Bernard, by Gordon on the wing, who strikes the ball perfectly into the Fleetwood goal.

Fleetwood had a chance late on to get a third but substitute Harvey Saunders’ shot from range was smothered by the Everton defence, finishing off a brilliant performance from the Cod Army.

The final chance of the game fell to the visitors as Nkounkou played the ball to substitute Kean, who scored with the last kick of the game.

Town XI: Cairns (GK), Andrew, Whelan, Burns, Evans (Saunders 75’), Camps, J.Morris, Coutts (C) (Matete 75’), Boyes, Stubbs (Duffy 45’), Hill.

Subs not used: Leutwiler (GK), Garner, Holgate, S.Morris.

Everton XI: Pickford (GK), Kenny, Keane, Richarlison (Kean 76’), Delph (Davies 62’), Calvert-Lewin (Gordon 45’), Sigurdsson (C), Digne, Iwobi, Nkounkou, Bernard.

Subs not used: Lossl (GK), Walcott, Doucoure, Coleman.