After kickstarting their season with a spirited yet far-from-perfect display against Brighton on Sunday, Everton are hoping to build some momentum at the Hill Dickinson stadium when they face Mansfield Town on Wednesday. Following on from an already historic week, which saw the first competitive goal, game, and win at Everton’s new ground, more history will be made as the stadium hosts its first cup game, as well as its first match under the lights.
With the benefit of hindsight, Sunday’s victory felt like a game that Everton were never going to lose. With the noise, the build-up, and the pre-match hype, it felt destined that Everton were going to begin their competitive journey at the Hill Dickinson Stadium with a win. The same feeling applies to their midweek cup game, albeit this is a game which Everton are expected to win comprehensively.
Yet whilst the atmosphere and occasion of the day seemed to keep the ball out of Jordan Pickford’s net, it doesn’t tell the full story of the match. With what is still a disjointed defence and midfield, Everton looked vulnerable at times. Sloppy mistakes plagued the first half, with Brighton failing to take their chances, along with a missed penalty in the second half.
David Moyes will know that. He will know that he has not yet had a chance to see his first-choice eleven. Going with the same midfield and defence which was massively underwhelming a week prior at Elland Road was controversial yet successful – what Wednesday could provide is a chance to see how other players, who may not fully be trusted at Premier League level, fare in a competitive match.
Meanwhile, after two disappointing losses to begin their season, Wednesday’s opponents have undergone a positive run of form, winning four games in a row in all competitions and scoring ten goals in that period. Mansfield consolidated their place in League 1 by finishing in 17th place last season after being promoted the season before – they will be looking to improve on that finish this time round, with some fans suggesting that they could be a dark horse to finish in the play-off positions.
Everton & Mansfield Town – History
In a week dominated by talks of creating history, even more will be made as Wednesday’s match will be the first ever competitive meeting between the two teams. However, In December 2024, Everton played a behind-closed-doors friendly against Mansfield after the postponement of the Merseyside Derby, in which Everton came away with a 4-0 win with defender Jake O’Brien reportedly gaining a hat-trick of assists.
Team News
Injured defensive duo Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitaliy Mykolenko will remain out for Wednesday’s game, and with rumours of a loan move for Nathan Patterson to Sevilla ramping up, it is unlikely he will be involved too. Adam Aznou received an injury in Sunday’s pre-match warm up, meaning it is unlikely he will be involved on Wednesday night. The severity of his injury is not yet known. With David Moyes having a stretched squad at his disposal, it is likely that he will have to rotate his team less than he would have liked.
In Saturday’s victory over Leyton Orient, Mansfield welcomed back George Maris, Stephen McLaughlin and Ryan Sweeney, with all three being substituted on at half time. Rhyes Oates is likely to miss out after failing a fitness test, along with Lee Gregory, Deji Oshilaja and Joe Gardner.
Then to address the elephant in the room – Tyler Dibling. After a summer of constant rumours and back-and-forth, Everton announced that they had finally signed the youngster on Monday night, for what is rumoured to be an initial £35m fee. Dibling is not cup-tied, after not featuring in Southampton’s 1-0 victory away to Northampton in Round One, and is likely to have been registered before the deadline to be able to feature on Wednesday night.
What the Manager Says
On Tyler Dibling – ‘We are really pleased to bring Tyler to Everton Football Club. He is a talented young English player with lots of potential. Tyler adds to our attacking options and we will support him in his future development.’
On future transfers – ‘It is not we don’t have the money to spend, we do have, but we’re finding it difficult to spend the money at the moment. We’ve really gone for some top players but unfortunately we’ve not been able to get them, so we might be finding ourselves coming down the ladder to find players…’
Everton Key Player
Carlos Alcaraz – After being dropped against Brighton on Sunday, Alcaraz would have been further demoralised seeing the signing of Tyler Dibling confirmed the day after. Whilst Dibling is an out-and-out right winger, whereas Alcaraz is more suited to the #10 role, it is simply another attacking option who could be ahead of him in the pecking order. There is an argument to be made that David Moyes does not particularly ‘fancy’ Alcaraz – he could be seen as the current fourth choice #10, behind Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jack Grealish, and Iliman Ndiaye. Therefore, Wednesday’s match is Alcaraz’s best chance so far this season to show Moyes that he can play a vital role in Everton’s season, in his favoured #10 position.
Many fans have been frustrated at how many times the Argentinian has been played out of position since he joined from Flamengo in January. In five of his eight Premier League starts so far, the 22-year-old has initially started on either wing, which no doubt frustrates him just as much as those watching him. Alcaraz was initially substituted on as a winger during Sunday’s match, yet was then moved to the #10 position after an injury to midfielder to Tim Iroegbunam, which forced Moyes to reshuffle. Wednesday’s match against Mansfield could be what Alcaraz needs to stake a claim to play more minutes in his favoured position, and he will be looking to grab the bull by the horns.
One to watch for Mansfield
Will Evans – With three goals in his last four games, the Stags’ striker’s recent goalscoring form has been a key reason for their current winning streak. Mansfield are not a team who struggle for goals – the last time they failed to find the back of the net was at home to Wigan in March, meaning they have gone on a run of scoring in 14 consecutive games in all competitions. They are also currently League One’s joint-highest scorers.
Evans scored 14 goals for Mansfield last season, a solid total for a lower-half League One side, and he will be hoping to build on that total as his team aim to push themselves further up the table this season. Against what will be far from Everton’s first-choice centre back partnership, Evans will be looking to build on his current hot-streak.
Final Thoughts
Round Two of the Carabao Cup is always a good chance to get a win on the board and get some players off the mark in terms of their goal tallies. I would love to see Thierno Barry keep his place up front, hoping he can build on what was a promising full debut against Brighton (which earned him heaps of praise by the great Thierry Henry on Monday Night Football!) by scoring his first goal for the club. Aside from that, David Moyes will be hoping to see a solid, professional, and dominant performance by whichever lineup he chooses, and the sold-out Hill Dickinson stadium (!) will be expecting the same.
Prediction
2-0. This match has the feel of a very ‘get the job done’ game. With Everton being able to rotate less than they would really want, they will be looking for a comfortable victory, using minimum energy before they travel to Molineux on Saturday. As stated, I am looking for a goal from Thierno Barry, as well as Carlos Alcaraz to run the show, perhaps even nicking a goal for himself. Everton have not lost in this round of the EFL Cup since the 2012/13 season, after a 2-1 defeat away to Leeds, and I do not see a reason why this streak would end on Wednesday night.
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