Everton vs Chelsea: Starting line-ups for Carabao Cup fourth round clash revealed
KEY POINTS
- David Unsworth leads the Toffees for then first time following Ronald Koeman's exit.
- Danny Drinkwater makes his Chelsea debut.
David Unsworth has named Beni Baningime in his first ever Everton side to take on Chelsea in tonight's (Wednesday 25 October) Carabao Cup fourth round clash.
Idrissa Gueye misses out after his red card shown in that harrowing 5-2 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday with Aaron Lennon and Kevin Mirallas both starting in attack behind Wayne Rooney, who leads the line tonight.
Unsworth makes five changes in all to the side that lost to Arsenal, with Jonjoe Kenny and Tom Davies the other academy graduates in the starting XI alongside 19-year-old Baningime.
Lennon is making his first starting appearances for the Toffees since 2 January, while James McCarthy, having shaken off a knee injury, comes in for his first start since February.
Michael Keane drops to the bench where he is joined by Gylfi Sigurdsson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, while Morgan Schneiderlin misses out completely.
For the home side, Charly Musonda starts only his second game for Chelsea. The 21-year-old's only other senior start for the Blues came in the third round of this competition against Nottingham Forest, scoring his first goal for the club in that game. Despite his recent social media outburst where he appeared to take aim at the club over a perceived lack of first-team chances, he gets another run out tonight.
The same applies to Kenedy who comes into Antonio Conte's attack while Michy Batshuayi, who came off the bench to score against Watford at the weekend, is given the nod up front. 17-year-old Ethan Ampadu also gets another start, while there is a club debut for Danny Drinkwater who returned to training this week having recovered from a calf injury.
In all, Conte has made nine changes to the side that beat Watford at the weekend.
Everton team to face Chelsea: Pickford, Baines, Williams, Jagielka, Rooney, Mirallas, Lennon, McCarthy, Davies, Kenny, Baningime
Subs: Robles, Keane, Sigurdsson, Niasse, Calvert-Lewin, Holgate, Lookman
Chelsea team to face Everton: Caballero, Rudiger, Christensen, Cahill, Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Ampadu, Kenedy, Willian, Batshuayi, Musonda
Subs: Eduardo, Clarke-Salter, Sterling, Scott, Fabregas, Pedro, Morata