The debate over manager Frank Lampard’s team selection will no doubt be fierce after Everton were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in humiliating fashion with a 4-1 thrashing at Bournemouth after the Blues boss named an entirely different starting 11 to the side that lost 2-0 at home to Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday.
On the one hand, some Evertonians claimed that top flight survival now takes priority after their side slumped to 16 th ahead of their final fixture before the World Cup break – back at the Vitality Stadium again on Saturday – but others pointed out that a round trip of over 500 miles from Merseyside to the Dorset coast is a hell of a long way for long-suffering Evertonians to come for a ‘reserve game.’
AS IT HAPPENED: Bournemouth v Everton LIVE
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While Bournemouth, a point and a place below their visitors in the Premier League table, made nine changes themselves to the starting line-up that threw away a 3-1 lead at Leeds United on Saturday to lose 4-3 at Elland Road, Lampard’s decision gave the impression that he was prepared to put the chances of lifting the only major piece of domestic silverware to have eluded Everton to one side despite the club currently enduring the longest trophy drought in their history which is about to enter a 28 th year.
Back in 2007, the Blues had a similar double header on the road when a midweek 2-1 victory at West Ham in this same competition proved the springboard to a 2-0 Premier League win at the Boleyn Ground the following Saturday but in putting all his eggs in one basket and being beaten, Lampard has ramped up the pressure to deliver this weekend even more and arguably handed the Cherries a psychological advantage going into an already crucial fixture as both sides look to move away from their close proximity to the drop zone ahead of the Qatar-enforced sabbatical.
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