Match Preview

It says something for the depth of Arsenal's squad � not to mention the astonishing gap in wealth that has opened up in the Premiership � that the third placed team in the table (still Everton!) should be daunted by the prospect of an away trip to the Gunners' second string.

I say "should be" because I don't know if David Moyes's side are, but there is enough talent among Arsenal's burgeoning youngsters to beat anyone.  But Everton haven't been fazed by anyone so far this season... except perhaps in that opening-day mauling at the hands of Arsenal � and a lot has changed since then!

What makes this one interesting is that, having gone 49 games unbeaten (an eternity in footballing terms), Ars�ne Wenger's team have not only finally been defeated but have failed to win now for three straight games in the league.

But, any apparent loss in confidence may not be shared by their reserve team, the majority of whom have not been recently involved at Premiership level but were responsible for the Gunners' only win in the past fortnight � namely, their Carling Cup Third Round win at Manchester City.  It is that reserve team whom we expect to see line up against the Blues this evening for this Fourth Round match-up.

Richard Wright is itching to face his former club but a slight back strain sustained during the wrm-up at Stamford Bridge on Saturday could sideline him in favour of Nigel Martyn.

Elsewhere in the team there are suggestions that Joseph Yobo and Gary Naysmith could start and the line could be led by James McFadden and Nick Chadwick as Moyes employs the only real squad rotation options that he has available.  Leon Osman is, according to the BBC, doubtful with a calf injury and Lee Carsley serves the final game of a three-match suspension having been sent off in the previous round against Preston.

For Arsenal, Edu is back from injury and looking to play a part, as is Jermaine Pennant.

This is the first meeting between the two clubs in a cup competition since the two-legged Semi-Final of this competition 16 years ago when the Gunners triumphed 4-1 on aggregate, Trevor Steven missing a penallty and Adrian Heath getting the Blues' only goal.  Everton haven't won at Highbury since Andrei Kanchelskis won a Premiership fixture there in the 1995-96 season.

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Stats

This will be the 181st meeting between Everton and Arsenal in all competitions, and the 91st away from home.  This match will be the 10th meeting in the League Cup, which will set a new club record for the most matches against a single club in this competition.  The previous record of 9 matches was jointly held by Arsenal and Aston Villa.

Everton's full record against Arsenal is:

Our record away to Arsenal is:

The last match between the sides was the first match of the season when Arsenal ran out 4-1 winners at Goodison Park.  The last match between the sides in the League Cup, and also the last match between the teams in this competition at Highbury was on 24 February 1988, when Arsenal progressed to the final thanks to a 3-1 victory in the second leg of the semi-final, with Adrian Heath getting Everton�s only goal of the tie.

There have been just 2 Everton hat-tricks in matches against Arsenal.  The last was by Roy Vernon on 29 April 1961.  The only other Everton hat-trick was the most famous hat-trick in the club�s history when Bill Dean got the three goals he required to score 60 in a season in the last home match of the season on 5 May 1928.

The most common victory for Everton is 1-0, which has happened 17 times in Everton's 56 victories.  Arsenal's most common victory is also 1-0, which has happened 19 times in their 86 victories. The most common draw between the teams is 1-1, which has occurred 21 times in the 38 draws between the sides.

Everton's record for 9 November is:

This is the third time the teams have met on this day.  The last was in 1985 when Everton ran out 6-1 winners at Goodison Park in the old Division One.  The first meeting between the sides on this day was in 1982, when the sides drew 1-1 in a League Cup 3rd round match.

Walter Weaver was born on this day in 1898 in Birkenhead.  Signed from Burnley, Walter made 22 appearances and scored 3 goals for Everton before being sold to Wolves in October 1926.

Steve Flanagan

Highbury Hell

Where to start... having just got home from Highbury, I can't decide if I should feel massively depressed at having been well beaten by a bunch of reserves - or should I try and put together a realistic view of the bigger picture and try and make some sense of it all? Well, if I was to dwell on the former, I wouldn't be writing this at just gone midnight, I'd be in bed. So here goes on the latter - with apologies if I lapse into bouts of wrist-slashing and hair-tearing.

On paper this was an easy ride, a simple passage into the quarter finals and only a couple of games away from our first trip to Cardiff. However, it turned out to be anything but. Blimey, Arsene Wenger must sleep soundly at night. If he has got this amount of talent twiddling their thumbs in the reserves, then we can all pack up and go home.

Make no mistake - Arsenal Reserves are not on the same planet as our reserves. They're only just on the same planet as our first team. OK, so Edu has a World Cup winners medal, Pennant is one of the great young hopes of English Football and van Persie is a star of the not-too-distant future too... but, there were others out there, names too numerous and too difficult to mention that would walk into most Premiership teams.

I give you one - Quincy something or other...the one who scored the first goal. He couldn't even get in the starting XI - he came on as an early sub. I don't think I've ever seen anyone as quick as this young lad. Never heard of him before - but I might just be putting a tenner on him to score at the 2010 World Cup. Apparently, he's an 18 year old Dutch lad, who joined Arsenal from Ajax two years ago.

Which sort of begs the question about our reserves. Have we got one decent prospect in our reserve team that could get into Arsenal's team? I doubt it. If so, why on earth weren't they there tonight. Well, actually, two of them were. Sort of. The great mis-fit that is James McFadden played the whole game whilst Nick Chadwick came on after about 15 minutes for Marcus Bent, who worringly went off with an injury that he picked up after about 2 minutes.

Games like this can be defining moments in careers. And so it proved tonight. Lets start with Chadwick. This was his big chance. Virtually a full game against a bunch of kids. Fair dues to him, he tried his heart out and never stopped running. But he just didn't do enough. He didn't win much in the air, he didn't make many chances and the one golden opportunity he did have to make the score 2-2, he took too long and the goalie pinched it off him.

And what about McFadden? Well, I've seen enough now to know that he simply isn't going to make it in the Premiership. It really gauls me to admit it because he's got all the talent - but seeing him again tonight and comparing him to what Arsenal had on show, well, he wouldn't even get in their Academy team. Simply, he doesn't have enough pace, he doesn't have enough strength - and he doesn't have enough between his ears to even dive properly when under pressure in the box.

Which brings me to another point. Sad as it may seem, Arsenal's reserves were smarter than us on the night. Call it professionalism. Call it coaching. But they knew how to play the ref. and we didn't. Time and time again, they'd get near to the box, a challenge would come in and down they'd go. We tried as hard as we could to stay on our feet, even in the box. Other teams (and a certain ex-player) go down cheaply and get penalties. Sorry guys, honesty ain't the best policy in this day and age.

So, what are the positives. There aren't many. Richard Wright played really well, couldn't be faulted for any of the goals and made three cracking saves. Tony Hibbert had another barn-storming game marking the flying Dutchman and Kilbane ran his heart out. But too many others just didn't play to their capabilities. Gravesen and Cahill should have bossed an inexperienced midfield but too often they seemed unsure which one was playing the holding, marking role and which one was supposed to getting forward. At least Carsley is back on Saturday to do this job.

Strangely, Moyes started with a 4-4-2 formation and stuck with it even though we were being overrun. Maybe it would have been wiser to have dropped McFadden back to the wing and put Watson in Carsley's slot to try and stem the tide of willing youngsters. But he stuck with the formation, until near the end when Osman came on and we went 4-3-3. With hindsight, a mistake. Why tinker with the formation which has done us proud this season?

Overall it was poor. I don't even think it's worth marking individuals because apart from the three just mentioned, no-one deserved more than about a 4.

The good news is that there were no points at stake tonight. The bad news is that Saturday's game is now a must win. We can't afford to lose three games on the bounce. I have a worrying feeling that we are about to have another defining moment, this time for the season as a whole. Win on Saturday and we really can cement our place at the top. Lose and we could just as easily begin to slide down the table. Time will tell.

Jonathan Martin