Match Preview
And so the surprise package of the season rolls into East Anglia looking to take second place in the Premiership, for a couple of hours at least.
David Moyes's Everton got back to winning ways in unspectacular style last weekend against Southampton and they will be looking for an improved display at Carrow Road in front of the live Sky cameras for this early afternoon match against winless Norwich City. Should they win, the Blues will leapfrog Chelsea who kick off against struggling Blackburn at 3 o' clock and preserve that wonderful four-point cushion between themselves and the group of clubs jostling below them.
Selection-wise, this should be a no-brainer for Moyes who will almost certainly name an unchanged line-up with no new injury worries to trouble him. It's an away game so the 4-5-1 line-up gets the automatic green light with Marcus Bent in attack and the onus falls once more on him and the season's goalscoring midfielders to produce the goods.
James McFadden's early exit from the Reserves game in midweek probably indicates another substitute's bench berth for the Scot and Joseph Yobo must also sit out again and watch the two old war-horses of Stubbs and Weir enjoying their renaissance.
Whether Nick Chadwick's public expression of frustration this week will be enough to get him into the squad remains to be seen, but to my eyes, as a forward-looking move, he is surely worth more coming off the bench than the ageing Duncan Ferguson.
Norwich are the only Premiership team not to have recorded a win so far which, given Everton's reputation as the team against whom hoodoos are usually broken, might not bode well. The Blues also haven't won on this ground since the inception of the Premier League.
The defence will have to be wary of top scorer Darren Huckerby whose pace and deep runs will make him a constant threat and loan star David Bentley, if he plays, adds an additional threat from the flank.
But Everton have more than enough talent, confidence, momentum and guile to grab three points here and extend what is a remarkable start to 2004/05. It will require better finishing than they have exhibited in recent games but the resolute defence provides the perfect platform for the likes of Leon Osman, Tim Cahill and Thomas Gravesen to pull the strings going forward if they're in the mood.
Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Stats
This will be the 48th meeting between
Everton and Norwich City in all competitions, and the 23rd at Carrow
Road. This match will be only the 7th meeting in the Premiership.
Everton's full record against The
Canaries is:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Premier League |
6 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
11 |
Division One |
34 |
13 |
11 |
10 |
53 |
41 |
FA Cup |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
League Cup |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
Screen Sport
Super Cup |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
TOTALS:
|
47 |
19 |
13 |
15 |
71 |
56 |
Our record at Carrow Road is:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Premier League |
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
Division One |
17 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
21 |
22 |
League Cup |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
Screen Sport
Super Cup |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
TOTALS:
|
22 |
6 |
7 |
9 |
26 |
28 |
The last match between the sides was on
3 January this year when goals from Kevin Kilbane and Duncan Ferguson (2)
secured a 3-1 home victory in the F.A. Cup 3rd round. The last time the
two sides met in the Premier League was on 4 February 1995 at Goodison
Park when Everton registered their only Premier League win against Norwich
thanks to goals from Graham Stuart and Paul Rideout to ensure a 2-1
victory. The last meeting between the sides at Carrow Road was on 5
November 1994 with the game ending 0-0.
With, relatively, so few games between
the sides, there has yet to be an Everton hat-trick. However 5 Everton
players have managed to score 2 goals in matches against Norwich. Duncan
Ferguson was the fifth in last season's FA Cup tie and joined Mike Lyons,
Graeme Sharp, Tony Cottee and Mo Johnston.
The most common victory for Everton is
1-0, which has happened 7 times in Everton's 19 victories. City's most
common victory is also 1-0, which has happened 5 times in Norwich's 15
victories. The most common draw between the teams is 1-1, which has
occurred 8 times in the 13 draws between the sides.
Everton's record for 23 October is:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Premier League |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Division One |
11 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
14 |
18 |
League Cup |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Screen Sport
Super Cup |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
TOTALS:
|
14 |
4 |
1 |
9 |
14 |
21 |
This is the second time the sides have
met on this day. The only other time the clubs have met on this day was
in 1985 when Norwich registered a 1-0 victory at Carrow Road in the
short-lived Screen Sport Super Cup. Everton's only other Premier League
match on this day was in 1993 when Manchester United were the visitors to
Goodison Park and ended up winning 1-0.
Fred Kennedy was born on this day in
1902 in Black Lane. Signed from Manchester United in March 1925, Fred
made 35 appearances and scored 11 goals before his transfer to
Middlesbrough after the 1926-27 season.
Eddie Thomas was also born on this day
in 1933 in Newton-le-Willows. After signing professional forms in October
1951, Eddie made 93 appearances for Everton whilst scoring 41 goals,
before being sold to Blackburn Rovers in February 1960.
David Johnson and Billy Kenny Snr were
both born on this day in 1951 and both in Liverpool. Johnson had the more
successful career of the two. After signing professional forms in April
1969, David was then sold to Ipswich Town in November 1972. He went on to
win medals with Liverpool before being signed by Everton again in August
1982. However, his second stint at the club didn't pan out as he was sold
to Manchester City in March 1984. During both stints at the club, Johnson
made 104 appearances and scored 20 goals as well as holding a unique
Everton record of scoring in his League debut, Goodison debut, derby debut
and European debut for the club. In contrast, Billy Kenny signed
professional forms in July 1969 and made just 12 appearances for the club
before being sold to Tranmere Rovers in March 1975.
Sam Chedgzoy won his second England cap
as an Everton player on this day in 1920, in England's 2-0 victory over
Northern Ireland. This game also saw the only England cap won by John
Thomas 'Dicky' Downs during his Everton career.
17 years later, in 1937, Albert Geldard
won his last England cap as an Everton player in their 5-1 victory, again
over Northern Ireland. Billy Cook was also in the Irish team in this
match, as was Alex Stevenson, who scored Ireland's goal.
On this day in 1912, Frank Bradshaw
played for the Football League Representative XI against their Irish
League counterparts.
Milestone's that can be reached in this
game:
-
If Nigel Martyn
plays, this will be his 50th appearance for Everton in all competitions.
-
If Duncan Ferguson
starts the game it will be his 150th start for Everton in the league.
Steve Flanagan

Buoyant Everton
too strong for Norwich
Duncan Ferguson came off the bench to head home the decisive goal
to kill a remarkable Norwich recovery and hand Everton an even more
remarkable fourth away win in five games. 2-0 up and cruising at
half time, the Blues were pegged back to 2-2 as the home side roared
out of the dressing room with renewed vigour, but David Moyes's
substitutions worked to perfection as Steve Watson delivered the
telling ball for Ferguson to notch his first goal of the season.
Moyes named an unchanged line-up from that which started against
Southampton last weekend but, whereas the end product was sorely
lacking against the Saints, the Blues looked far more assured going
forward today at Carrow Road. After ceding the early initiative
to Norwich, who had an early chance when a first minute Darren Huckerby
free kick found a Norwich head but the downward effort posed little
danger, Osman worked a shot from the right which was saved low by
Green after good flowing move.
After just 10 minutes, parity was broken when Marcus Bent fed Tim
Cahill down the right and, after a fantastic run into the area in
which he dinked the ball past a defender and cut it back across
goal, Kevin Kilbane was on hand to send a right-footed shot into
the roof of net.
1-0 up and in control, Everton sprayed the ball around well and
kept possession convincingly as Norwich struggled to make inroads
through their solid back line. Cahill headed a Thomas Gravesen corner
tamely over after a quarter of an hour while Drury looped a header
over his own bar from the Dane's throw. Robert Green mis-punched
the
resulting corner for a throw as a good spell of pressure ultimately
came to nothing.
At the other end, a teasing ball hanging in the air across face of Everton goal
evaded Martyn and might have been dangerous had there been any yellow shirts attacking
the ball but the chance came to nothing following City's first real
spell of sustained pressure around the half hour mark. A little
later on, a dangerous cross by Leon McKenzie found Damien Francis
jumping but he glanced his effort wide off the back off his head. It was the
best chance for Canaries so far.
Everton remained the more potent going forward, however. When
a wonderful Kilbane cross was met by Bent, the former Ipswich man
thought he'd silenced the Carrow Road boo-boys with a far post header
but it deflected to safety off the head of Drury.
Six minutes before the interval, Everton were seemingly home and
dry. Gravesen slid a perfectly-weighted ball through for Bent who
took one touch before slipping it under the advancing Green and
into the far corner. 2-0 and, given the Blues' defensive record
thus far, game over, you would have thought...
Nigel Worthington had other ideas and the fruits of what must have
been an inspirational half time pep talk came as early as the 48th
minute with a tremendous run by Leon McKenzie which he finished
by nutmegging Nigel Martyn to make it 2-1.
Six minutes later, Alan Stubbs had to hook the ball off the line
from the ever-threatening Huckerby after Martyn had hesitated uncharacteristically.
Then, three minutes after that, the scores were level. Mckenzie lost Stubbs, his marker, at the far post and
his unchallenged header down
from a corner found Francis two yards out; the midfielder couldn't
miss. 2-2 and all the momentum now lay with Norwich.
On the face of it, Moyes's response was overtly negative but the
result was quite the opposite. The ageing war-horses of Ferguson
and Watson were introduced for the admittedly quiet Cahill and the
sprightly Osman. Initially at least, the momentum remained with
the home side and Tony Hibbert had to make a superb saving tackle
in the area to snuff out the danger of yet another Huckerby raid
from the left.
With 18 minutes left, though, Everton's superior strength proved
decisive. Gravesen barreled into the area and went down under a
challenge but, while penalty claims were waved away, the
ball came to Watson who flighted it to the back post and Ferguson
headed back across goal and inside the far post. 3-2 and the Blues'
massive traveling support, who had made Carrow Road sound like Goodison
Park for much of the match, were bouncing in the stands again.
Still Norwich pressed, though, and a goalbound shot was blocked
on the line by Carsley, apparently by his arm, although he would
have known little about it. Moyes's next move was to shut up shop
at the back with the introduction of Joseph Yobo late on.
The Canaries pressed and threw everything they had the Everton
goal but aside from an 89th-minute strike by Svensson that flew
narrowly wide, they didn't threaten sufficiently. After three minutes
of injury time, the referee called time on Norwich's attempts to
save the game and signalled another three points for the high-flying
Blues who took second place in the Premiership, for a couple of
hours at least.
Overall, this was a performance that showed Everton at their most
effective and most vulnerable. The first half was a masterclass
in assured passing and effective offensive implementation of what
is, superficially, a defensive formation. As usual, there was support
in numbers from midfield and it was no surprise that Kilbane became
the latest midfielder to weigh in with a goal.
At the beginning of the second half, the Blues were overwhelmed
when the game was taken directly to them, although both Norwich goals
might be regarded as preventable with better defending.
Still, to dwell on the negatives doesn't do credit to the fact
that Moyes's side had enough to prevail over a determined Norwich
City and extend this unbelievable unbeaten sequence away from home.
Ferguson getting the match winner also makes a mockery of my match
preview where I ruled him out as a goal threat and advocated the deployment
of Nick Chadwick as super-sub. I'm more than happy to be proved
wrong!
Lyndon Lloyd

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