Interim
boss David Unsworth takes charge of Everton for the first time when they
travel to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Wednesday.
The U23s coach has stepped up following the departure of Ronald Koeman, who
was sacked after a 5-2 thrashing by Arsenal left Everton in the relegation
zone.
Unsworth, who has confirmed he wants the Everton job on a permanent basis,
has been handed an early boost, with Morgan Schneiderlin and James McCarthy
fit for the trip to Stamford Bridge.
"Both James and Morgan are available for Wednesday and they were part of the
group [Tuesday] morning when I spoke to the players," Unsworth said.
"We had a great session. The spirit was great - within five minutes of the
ball rolling the players were buzzing and it was a really good session."
Chelsea battled from behind to beat Watford 4-2 on Saturday but back-to-back
defeats to Manchester City and Crystal Palace has left them playing catch-up
in the Premier League title race.
They are faring better in the Champions League, where they top Group C, and
Thibaut Courtois says the Carabao Cup represents another opportunity to
improve their form.
"It's a cup, and with any cup you want to win it," Courtois told the club's
website.
"You want to go far. With injuries, maybe we don't have the possibility to
rotate a lot so we will have to see what team the manager puts out, but I
don't think it's a moment to relax.
"It's a different kind of pressure than the Champions League, where we are
doing well and we want to stay top of the group. In the Premier League we
have to fight to keep on winning games and the Carabao Cup is something
else, so we must try to do our best and go far."
Team news
Antonio Conte could field a strong-looking Chelsea squad for Wednesday's
Carabao Cup clash.
Danny Drinkwater (calf), N'Golo Kante (hamstring) and Victor Moses
(hamstring) will all miss out again.
Schneiderlin and McCarthy are back in contention for Everton and could help
ease the loss of Idrissa Gana Gueye, who misses the game through suspension
following his red card against Arsenal.
Ross Barkley (hamstring), Ramiro Funes Mori, Yannick Bolasie (both knee) and
Seamus Coleman (leg) are all long-term absentees.
Match stats
Chelsea have put 10 past Everton without reply in their last three
encounters (W3), with two of those victories coming at Stamford Bridge.
In fact, the Blues haven't lost a home game against Everton in all
competitions since November 1994 - remaining unbeaten in their last 27 (W16
D11). However, the Toffees did progress on penalties after a 1-1 draw in an
FA Cup fourth-round replay in 2011.
This is the sixth time these two sides have been drawn together in the
League Cup; with Chelsea progressing on each occasion, though two games went
to a replay.
Chelsea have reached the last eight of the League Cup in four of the last
six seasons but have fallen at this exact stage in each of the last two
seasons.
Everton have failed to progress to the quarter-finals in 12 of the last 14
seasons that they've reached the fourth round, though they beat Norwich in
2015-16 en route to the semi-finals.
Michy Batshuayi has scored five goals in his four league cup appearances for
Chelsea, including a hat-trick in the last round.
Charlie predicts
Do Everton rest players or try to build something here? I think they are
just going to Stamford Bridge looking to avoid embarrassment.
Chelsea aren't playing well at all, though. While Antonio Conte clearly
doesn't fancy Michy Batshuayi, he needs him right now and I think the
Belgian striker will inflict yet another defeat on the Toffees.
Charlie predicts: 2-0 and Michy Batshuayi to score first (14/1 with Sky Bet)
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