Everton at Blackpool: Live & How To Watch | Blues down 3-1
Everton #Everton
23’ – Corner from the left and Sigurdsson finds DCL, it’s 3-1 now. DCL’s header went off the shoulder of a defender, no chance for the goalie.
20’ – The biggest joke of it all is that at least half of the lineup today are expected to be starters.
19’ – Good cross in from Kenny and Kean can’t get a decisive touch on it.
Blues win a corner that Digne overhits and it goes out.
12’ – Make that 3-0, what a joke this is. Melee just outside the box and Ward is wide open to hammer home through a crowd.
10’ – Everton now down 2-0, defence in tatters here as Kaikai slots home at the far post.
1’ – Joke team this – CJ Hamilton scores after being played in by Keshi Anderson, 1-0 to the hosts. LOL.
Kickoff – Wouldn’t be an Everton preseason without issues logging on to the website would it? More from me momentarily as soon as I can sort out these issues.
Lineups – So here we go again, another preseason is upon us. Here’s Carlo Ancelotti’s starting lineup for the game at Blackpool today.
Still looks like a 4-4-2 to me, with Jordan Pickford in goal, Lucas Digne – Jarrad Branthwaite – Mason Holgate – Jonjoe Kenny in front of him. The middle is Anthony Gordon – Tom Davies – Gylfi Sigurdsson – Alex Iwobi and Moise Kean partners Dominic Calvert-Lewin up top.
The Everton players have been back for the preseason this week even as transfer rumours dominate the headlines. There has been little of substance to report on that front really, with all of it just speculation at this point.
For now the Blues have the same squad as they ended the last season with along with a couple of additions including Jonjoe Kenny who returns from his loan spell at Schalke 04 with his future still up in the balance.
That aside, the 2020-21 season starts today with a preseason friendly at League One side Blackpool. While the Blues finished in 12th in the Premier League, their opponents today were sitting in 13th when the coronavirus pandemic shut football down in March. Most lower leagues saw their season’s canceled there and new manager Neil Critchley has gotten his side off to an excellent start in their preseason preparations with a 4-0 win over Southport on August 8, a 2-1 win over Port Vale and on Tuesday night beating Barrow 2-1.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti will likely use this fixture to give some of the peripheral players a run out, but what fans will be watching for is to see whether he is still sticking with the 4-4-2 or if another formation is going to be in play for this season despite the lack of arrivals.
Competition: 2020-21 Preseason Friendly #1
Date and start time: Saturday, August 22nd at 7:00 a.m. PT / 10:00 a.m ET / 3:00 p.m. BST
Stadium: Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, England, United Kingdom
Capacity: 17,338 (Match being played behind closed doors)
Weather: 64°F/18°C, mostly cloudy, 22% chance of precipitation, 26 mph winds
TV: N/A – United States; N/A – United Kingdom; N/A – Canada
Radio: evertontv
Live stream: Everton website
Gamethread: Live blog above starting one hour before game time
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Everton
Starting XI – Pickford, Digne, Branthwaite, Holgate, Kenny, Gordon, Davies, Sigurdsson, Iwobi, Kean, Calvert-Lewin
Subs – Keane, Walcott, Nkounkou, Coleman, Bolasie, Besic, Virginia, Gibson, John, Lössl, Simms
Blackpool
Starting XI – Maxwell, Husband, Ekpiteta, Robson, Anderson, Yates, Kaikai, Nottingham, Ward, Turton, Hamilton
Subs – Sims, Howe, Thorniley, Sarkic, Feeney, Madine, Virtue, Shaw, Antwi
Everton are unbeaten in their last eight games against Blackpool in all competitions, winning both of the last two Premier League meetings during the 2010-11 season. However, Blackpool actually won the last time the two sides met, in a Keith Southern testimonial as part of the 2012-13 preseason with the hosts getting a 2-0 result.