Football

Carabao Cup: Everton FC face 4-1 defeat against AFC Bournemouth

Everton were eliminated from the Carabao Cup in the third round after a 4-1 loss to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

Manager Frank Lampard made 11 changes to the team that started against Leicester City in the Premier League three days earlier for the match on the south coast.

Early goals in both half proved costly for the Blues, who levelled the deficit midway through the second period before succumbing twice late on.

The hosts started strongly, but Jamal Lowe’s hopeful side-footed drive from just inside the penalty area took a nasty deflection off the outstretched leg of James Garner and crashed into the back of the net via the crossbar on seven minutes.

The early setback seemed to spark Everton into life, and a flurry of chances followed in the space of a frenzied five minutes.

The greatest of those went to Tom Davies following a defence-splitting ball from Abdoulaye Doucoure, but the Academy graduate shot over the crossbar with just the goalkeeper to beat.

Everton rallied back, and James Garner, making his first appearance for the club after joining from Manchester United in the summer, pushed Mark Travers into a save at full stretch with an opportunistic left-footed effort from 20 yards out.

Rben Vinagre next sprinted down the left wing and sent an enticing cross that was met by Yerry Mina at the far post, only for Anthony Gordon’s header to go wide.

On the opposite wing, Nathan Patterson threatened with a powerful 70-yard run, but his key lay-off to Gordon was under-hit, and Bournemouth held on.

After overcoming that assault, the Cherries began to irritate Lampard’s side, which was highlighted when Gordon was shown the first yellow card of the evening as the half came to a close for a harsh sliding challenge.

These emotions were heightened by the fact that the second quarter was just two minutes old.

Everton captain Asmir Begovic sought to find Holgate, who stumbled at a crucial time, allowing Ryan Christie to seize control. The Bournemouth midfielder’s cut-back was then deflected into the path of Lowe, and another deflection on the goalscorer’s attempted cross allowed Junior Stanislas to touch in from close range to make it 2-0.

Lampard quickly replied with a triple change, bringing on Alex Iwobi, Demarai Gray, and Dwight McNeil.

With 24 minutes remaining, two of those changes combined to bring Everton back in the game, with Iwobi’s pass passed on by Maupay to Gray, who held off Ryan Fredericks before spinning and curling a magnificent curling effort beyond Travers.

The Toffees had their tails up after another sold-out away crowd, but were handed another blow as Bournemouth regained their two-goal lead with 12 minutes remaining, replacement Emiliano Marcondes scooping home a rebound after Begovic had denied Lowe.

With 10 minutes remaining, Tom Cannon made his senior debut, while Stanley Mills came off the bench after shining for the Under-21s this season.

However, Bournemouth scored a fourth goal in the last minutes through Jaidon Anthony, capping off a miserable evening.

Everton return to the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday in the last game before the World Cup break.

Kajal S

Kajal S

kajal

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.