When Everton FC host Manchester United tomorrow night, for an EFL Cup quarterfinal, Goodison Park will welcome in about 2,000 fans. Toffees boss Carlo Ancelotti believes the addition of a relatively small number of supporters will provide his crowd a boost.
“I think the fact that we can play at Goodison park can be an advantage, for sure. The last games [against Chelsea and Arsenal] only had 2,000 supporters,” said the extremely accomplished manager, “but as I said, the performance of the team was really good also for this reason, I think, because we had support.”
Manchester United at Everton FC EFL Cup Quarterfinal FYIs
Team news for both sides: go here
Manchester United Starting XI Prediction: go here
Kickoff: 8pm GMT, Wed. Dec. 23, Goodison Park
TV (UK): Sky Sports
Everton (+235) Manchester United (+110) Draw (+260)
Officials- Referee: Andrew Madley
Assistants: Edward Smart, Adrian Holmes
Fourth official: Andre Marriner
How much of a home pitch advantage will it make? Especially against a side that is in red hot form on the road right now? Tuesday brought some big news in that James Rodriguez, a summer splash signing, is a no go for this one.
The knock that has kept him out of the last three games, all victories, will prohibit him from playing in midweek. Ancelotti says the Colombian has been training individually, and he could be back for Boxing Day.
The boss said:
“James is not available, but it’s always a difficult decision to do the line-up. Above all, they are professionals, they are serious in training, and they show they deserve to play.”
“We are not concerned. We are sad because James is an important player for us, but if he’s not able to play, if he’s not ready, we don’t have to push and force him to come back. We have to wait a little bit so he’s going to recover well and properly.”
“The season finishes in May and all players need to have a proper rehab to avoid problems in the future, not only James. I think he could be available for the next game, or the game after. We have games every three days.
“He’s working individually; he has to start working with the team before he starts to play.”
That said, let’s take a look at who could be in the first team for the hosts in this one, knowing that James will not be.
Everton FC Starting XI Prediction:
Olsen; Coleman, Holgate, Keane, Godfrey; Davies, Doucoure; Bernard, Sigurdsson, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin
Prediction: United 2, Everton 1
You got to love United’s away form right now, so how can you pick against it? United will of course fall behind early in this one; naturally.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.