BIG ENERGY DRIVE: As Toffees seek to keep up the Pace.

When Everton travels back to the Midlands to play Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, they will be looking to build on their impressive weekend victory at Brentford.

After a challenging few weeks, the 3-1 victory at the Gtech Community Stadium was a big boost. The Toffees have threatened a similar outcome this season, most notably against Wolves and Fulham, but the crucial distinction is that they actually scored when they had the chance.

Everton has a real potential to create some distance between themselves and the bottom three with two home games remaining against Luton and Bournemouth before the international break, allowing everyone a chance to cool down and take a deep breath.

First up is a trip back to the location of what was perhaps Everton’s worst performance of the year to yet. When they face Unai Emery’s team again, Sean Dyche’s team will have some ghosts to exorcise after being utterly destroyed by Villa in the Premier League in August.

Of course, this will be in the Carabao Cup, so I anticipate a different level of intensity and some adjustments from both teams.

Given Everton’s protracted trophy drought, I often support the ‘play your strongest team’ philosophy when it comes to cup games. But given the significance of the Luton game, I wouldn’t mind if certain important players took a break.

However, another victory here would give the team confidence and real momentum. It would also give us encouragement that perhaps this season isn’t as bad as we think.

opposing party

In the past year, Villa and Everton have taken radically divergent paths, as we noted in the preview for the league clash in August.

The Midlands club has flourished under Emery after taking quick action to fire Steven Gerrard when they were dangerously near to the bottom three. On the penultimate day of the season, they were able to secure a Europa Conference League spot.

Following a 4-0 demolition of the Toffees, Villa earned a spot in the Conference League group stages by defeating Hibernian over two legs, albeit they suffered a shock loss at Legia Warsaw in their second game.

Having won four and lost two of their first six league games, including a triumph at Chelsea on Sunday, Emery’s team does not deal in draws.

The Carabao Cup is unlikely to be Villa’s top priority this season because to their focus on Europe, so I would expect Emery to make a lot of changes. However, their roster now has great depth, so whichever lineup they choose will still be a formidable one.

If they advance on Wednesday, they would have gone unbeaten in 10 meetings against Everton since they returned to the top division in 2019. Everton’s most recent success against them came in the form of a 3-1 Premier League victory at Villa Park in March 2016.

Previous encounter: August 20, 2023; Aston Villa defeated Everton 4-0.

John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey, and John Duran scored for the hosts to secure a well-earned victory, making it a sad day for Evertonians.

Squad news

Despite having a tiny roster and few choices, Sean Dyche is expected to make some adjustments to his team with Luton in mind.

After scoring off the bench on Saturday, Dominic Calvert-Lewin might start. After playing for the U21s on Friday, Jack Harrison might possibly make his professional debut. Michael Keane, Lewis Dobbin, Youssef Chermiti, and Ben Godfrey, among others, might also be given some time.

How they spoke

Sean Dyche, the manager of Everton, said: “We realise we have to change the story, I must emphasise that, but we do it by performances.We are confident that the Everton community will be behind us, but we must continue to play with the same focus and determination as we did at Brentford.

Not just the quality, but also the entire body language, vigour, and confidence in our abilities to go out and triumph in matches like we did on Saturday. We must continue to do that.

Last word

This one is difficult to predict. Although Villa are now the superior team, I’m not sure how concerned they are about the Carabao Cup this year. The importance of a win for Everton coming into those two crucial home games would be enormous.