Can Everton Have an Impressive Cup Run This Season?

Everton travel to face Wolves in the third round of the Carabao Cup. With the Toffees' good run of games throughout the next few weeks, plenty of victories can be picked up along the way, starting today!

In the last round of the cup, Everton hosted League One side Mansfield Town for Hill Dickinson Stadium’s first cup outing. The Toffees, though, managed to easily get into the hat, overcoming Nigel Clough’s side 2-0 with both goals coming in the second half from both Argentinian midfielder Carlos Alcaraz and Portuguese striker Beto.

The first goal came in the 51st minute as the ball was at the feet of Harrison Armstrong, who since had completed a season-long loan deal to EFL Championship side Preston North End, in Mansfield’s penalty area. In a failed attempt to dribble past the back line, Armstrong was forced to turn his back to goal, laying it off to Alcaraz on the edge of the box. In front of the South Stand, for the first time, the 22-year-old curled the ball into the top right corner, beating Liam Roberts in net, giving Everton the lead just after the second half began.

It took Everton a while to double the lead, 38 minutes to be exact (89th minute), with a lovely little move including Garner, Armstrong and Beto! With Mansfield’s back line extremely deep, James Garner was in possession on the edge of the box, with the English midfielder spotting the run through by Harrison Armstrong. A lovely through ball, meanwhile Beto was sprinting into the open space, meant all Armstrong had to do was square it into the 27-year-old’s path to tuck it home to give Everton an extremely comfortable 2-0 win at home!

For Wolves, they were drawn against West Ham at the Molineux for their second-round tie in the Carabao Cup, with an extremely late comeback double from Norwegian striker Jorgen Strand Larsen giving Wolves the victory in a five-goal thriller! Wolves opened the scoring in the 43rd minute, after Guido Rodriguez’s foul on Haiti midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde led referee Darren England to the expected and correct decision of a penalty. As Hwang Hee-chan went up to take it, the ball struck the side of the left-hand post. Luckily for the South Korean, the ball travelled into the path of Rodrigo Gomes, who tucked it home on the rebound past French goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, who for certain could have been at fault for the goal, as the shot on the rebound trickled through the 32-year-old’s gloves and into the back of the net.

After the break, the Hammers responded well, only taking Graham Potter’s side 7 minutes to come up with an equaliser. New recruit for West Ham, Kyle Walker-Peters, picked up the ball on the right-hand wing, playing an over-the-top cross into an on-running Tomas Soucek. The Czech midfielder, standing at a whopping 6 ft 4 in, towered over the scrambling Wolves defenders, with the power of the 30-year-old’s header too much for Sam Johnstone in goal. It got better for Potter’s team and the 3010 fans in the away end of the Molineux as Paqueta gave West Ham the lead with a very similar goal to Soucek’s just 13 minutes prior. A long ball pass into the path of the Brazilian midfielder by Jarrod Bowen was pinpoint accurate, allowing Paqueta to head it home!

Perhaps it was all going a little too well for West Ham though… To put it in simple terms:Strand Larsen scored 2 in 2 minutes to give Wolves the win!

The first goal came through Andre on the edge of the box, who hit it on the volley. Although not a strong shot, it was clearly uncomfortable for Areola in net, as the goalkeeper had to punch it away from danger into the path of an unmarked Jorgen Strand Larsen. In the midst of slipping over, the Norwegian attacker managed to smash the ball into the top right-hand corner from approximately 12 yards out. Little did Wolves manager Vitor Pereira know what carnage would come next! Following Wolves' counterattack, fullback Jackson Tchatchoua picked up the ball on the right-hand side, crossing it in to Strand Larsen, who headed it home, sending the fans in the Molineux into pandemonium!

Although at the moment, Wolverhampton Wanderers' cup run is positive, their form in the Premier League is quite literally the opposite. At the moment, Wolves sit rock bottom of the table, in 20th place. Over the 5 match days that have occurred so far this season, Wolves have lost all of them, are currently on 0 points, and have a -9 goal difference. The Wanderers have faced Manchester City (0-4), Bournemouth (1-0 – Toti Gomes: Red Card), Everton (2-3), Newcastle (1-0) and Leeds United (1-3). An extremely embarrassing start to the season, but could all this change against the Toffees tonight?

It has been revealed that Jarrad Branthwaite may be back in action for Everton, perhaps as a substitute, as the English defender continues to recover from a hamstring injury picked up a few weeks ago now. As well as this, Merlin Rohl may return to the team sheet, perhaps also on the bench. The new loan signing from Bundesliga club Freiburg had a little cameo during the goalless draw against Aston Villa on the 13th September at Hill Dickinson Stadium but picked up a minor knock in training during preparation for the Merseyside Derby. With Moyes reassuring fans the injury was nothing to be worried about, there is certainly a possibility today that Rohl returns and possibly gets some minutes with the rest of the team!

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Thank you for reading my pre-match article!