Match Preview
Updated It’s the final FA Cup campaign that Everton will wage at Goodison Park, starting on Thursday night as Everton take on Peterborough Utd from League One.
This is only the second time the two clubs have met, Everton securing a narrow 2-1 win at Goodison Park in a League Cup 2nd Round tie back in September 2006.
The tie comes at a time of mounting pressure on Everton manager Sean Dyche, whose ultra-defensive set-up had been marginally more successful earlier last month in holding on to the single point his players start each Premier League match with. But football, and especially the FA Cup, is about winning matches and that means scoring goals.
Sean Dyche has been forced to change his approach somewhat when the resolute and stalwart defence provided mainly by the Blue Jays: James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite and especially Jordan Pickford, has been breached. But coming from behind is not something that is covered too well in the Sean Dyche manual of defensive football…
So it will be of paramount importance for his players to score the opening goal and give them something meaningful to defend, and just as importantly, something for the crowd to get behind.
But injuries continue to thwart the manager’s best-laid plans for Everton to progress, with Dwight McNeil still unavailable, Garner and Iroegbunam closer to returning but also unavailable and Chermiti potentially a doubt for this one. Calvert-Lewin has an ankle issue and may not make it, so Broja may start if he has fully recovered from jarring his knee when kicking the turf as he tried to score against The Cherries on Saturday.
The position of Beto remains something of a mystery, with a sighting of him departing Manchester Airport for Italy earlier in the week, but no reports of where he went and whether he will be back to appear in this game.
And the tie throws up a pretty rare talking point with the potential that 39-year-old Ashley Young could take to the field on the opposite side from his son, Tyler, an 18-year-old midfielder who was a member of the Arsenal academy prior to joining Peterborough United on a 1-year contract in the summer of 2024 after a brief trial.
However, Tyler Young has yet to see much action for The Posh, with just two games spent sitting on the subs bench, so the storybook encounter may well not happen.
The match is being streamed live on the BBC iPlayer, weather permitting. And on that note: “A safety meeting involving the club and relevant authorities will be held at 1 pm to assess the weather and travel conditions for tonight’s FA Cup fixture between Everton and Peterborough United.”
Temperatures are forecast to be around freezing and icy conditions on the roads and pavements around the stadium likely the main consideration. Everton say they are making ‘every effort’ to ensure the game goes ahead despite the icy conditions.
And the decision was for the game to go ahead as planned — but without manager Sean Dyche, whose departure was announced just 3¼ hours before this game kicks off.
Kick-off: 7:45 pm GMT, Thursday 9 January 2025
Referee: Thomas Bramall
Assistant Referees: Darren Cann and Mark Scholes
Fourth Official: Tom Nield