Everton begin their cup campaign on Wednesday night with a short trip to Deepdale to face Championship side Preston North End in the Carabao Cup. The fixture brings back fond memories for David Moyes, who served Preston as both a player and a manager, but the question is which XI the Scot should select.
Connor O'Neill's team
Connor O'Neill says the first consideration is how strong David Moyes goes, noting that many Blues supporters are still scarred by last year's defeat to Wolves. He would start Jordan Pickford in goal, with Merlin Rohl at right-back, Vitalii Mykolenko on the other side, and Jake O'Brien and James Tarkowski at the heart of the defence.
The only reason Jarrad Branthwaite does not start, he explains, is that the club is clearly managing his minutes and two games in a matter of days might be asking too much. In midfield, Hayden Hackney, Harrison Armstrong and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall would start in the middle, with Iliman Ndiaye and Tyler Dibling on either flank. Up top, Thierno Barry should again get the nod to continue his goalscoring run.
His team (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Rohl, O'Brien, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Hackney, Dewsbury-Hall; Dibling, Armstrong; Ndiaye; Barry.
Joe Thomas's team
Joe Thomas believes David Moyes would surely have known he needs to go strong for this game, even before Angus Kinnear's comments last week and his response to questions about the fixture. Preston have endured a tough start to the Championship but remain a team that could pose problems if Everton do not take the game seriously, and Everton simply have to take the cups seriously.
For Thomas, that does not necessarily mean a full-strength side, but it should be pretty close. He would give Jarrad Branthwaite a break for fear of giving him too much to do too soon, with Jake O'Brien coming in. He would start Tyler Dibling for fear that his promising summer is halted by lack of opportunity, and would start Iliman Ndiaye and Thierno Barry in the hope of pulling away early.
Thomas spoke to Michael Ball in the week, who highlighted Arsenal's approach to the Coventry City game as an example he would like to follow. Thomas agrees with the former defender, wanting Everton to start hard and fast and seize control of the tie. The reward would be the ability to rotate later in the fixture, when he would look to the likes of Adam Aznou, Nathan Patterson, Michael Keane, Carlos Alcaraz, Beto and Brennan Johnson - but his hope would be to use them to build on something Everton already have, rather than use them from the start.
His team (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Rohl, O'Brien, Tarkowski, Mykolenko; Hackney, Dewsbury-Hall; Dibling, Armstrong; Ndiaye; Barry.
