Everton vs Fulham

A place in the League Cup semi-finals is up for grabs as Everton and Fulham go head-to-head in an exciting quarter-final tie at Goodison Park.

Unfazed by a heartbreaking 10-point deduction, Everton are making strides in the Premier League, with a 2-0 triumph at Burnley last weekend extending their formidable winning streak to four games. In a true ‘Sean Dyche’ style, the ‘Toffees’ kept a clean sheet in all those victories, which isn’t a small feat given they faced Chelsea and Newcastle in that stretch. Goodison Park looked like a dismantled fortress at the beginning of the 2023/24 campaign as Everton lost their opening four home league outings. However, the resurgent Merseyside giants have flipped the script, racking up four wins across their last six matches at Goodison (D1, L1), including a 3-0 thumping of Burnley in the previous League Cup round. To put Everton’s renaissance in fitting context, they squeezed past Premier League runners-up Aston Villa 2-1 in the second round, becoming the first and only side to have won at Villa Park this season.

Meanwhile, Fulham headed into their high-profile Premier League trip to St James’ Park in high spirits after streamlining consecutive 5-0 home league triumphs against Nottingham Forest and West Ham. However, reduced to ten men midway through the first half of their massive clash against Newcastle United, Marco Silva’s side finished on the receiving end of a 3-0 scoreline, marking their first scoring blank since early November. In between, they netted 3+ goals in four of their five domestic fixtures, highlighting the potential for breaching Dyche’s formidable defensive unit and, in turn, extending their impressive three-game winning streak at Goodison. To achieve that feat, Silva must plug his side’s defensive leaks after the ‘Cottagers’ conceded an alarming 3+ goals across their last three away matches (L3).