Here is the match report ...
Full time: Everton 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Peep peep! Everton cruise into the fifth round, where they will play Wycombe or Spurs at Goodison Park. They played some slick football and were far too good for a young Sheffield Wednesday side. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, on his return from injury, slid in the first goal and then Richarlison and Yerry Mina scored in the space of four minutes in the second half. Both were headers from corners by James Rodriguez, who ran the game and was a pleasure to watch throughout. Thanks for your company, goodnight.
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90+1 min Three minutes of added time.
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90 min Wednesday appeal for a penalty after a challenge by Bernard on Brennan. It was a clumsy tackle, but Graham Scott and VAR weren’t interested.
85 min A double change for Everton: Thierry Small, 16, and Tyler Onyango, 17, come on for Andre Gomes and the marvellous James Rodriguez. At 16 years 176 days, Small becomes the youngest player in Everton’s history. Well in lads.
82 min James sweeps the ball out to Bernard, who cuts inside and has a shot blocked. Kenny puts the rebound into orbit. I know I’m a stuck record, but James has been so good tonight: elegant, regal and another complimentary word.
79 min Wednesday make their fifth change. Adam Reach goes off, Jack Marriott comes on. This is his first game since early November.
78 min “Evening Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “Still working at half nine on a Sunday?! You’d be as well just staying up for the cricket - only seven hours to go. Even during lockdown, the sporting calendar is pretty relentless...”
With the cricket in mind, I intend to be asleep precisely 12 seconds after this match finishes.
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75 min A double change for Everton: Anthony Gordon and Jonjoe Kenny replace Richarlison, who scored the second goal, and Ben Godfrey, who didn’t.
74 min Windass changes direction smartly in the area and hits a stinging low shot that is superbly blocked by the sliding Holgate. Every time I see Holgate at centre-back, he looks a class act.
73 min Windass’s deflected free-kick is held comfortably by Olsen.
70 min Godfrey is booked for a studs-up lunge at Harris. That wasn’t the greatest tackle, although I’m pretty sure it wasn’t malicious.
68 min Another change for Wednesday: Barry Bannan off, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru on.
67 min An Everton substitution: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has had an excellent return to action, is replaced by Bernard.
64 min: Brennan heads off the line! James is ripping Wednesday apart. He receives the ball from Gomes, 25 yards from goal, and lobs a careful pass over the defence towards Calvert-Lewin. He lobs it over the outrushing Wildsmith, but Brennan gets back to head it behind for a corner. On reflection I’m not sure Calvert-Lewin’s shot was going in, though Brennan wasn’t to know that.
63 min Brown plays a nice one-two with Windass but then overruns the ball on the edge of the area.
GOAL! Everton 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday (Mina 62)
James swings another fine corner towards the six-yard line, where Mina towers over everyone to head emphatically past Wildsmith. James has been a joy to watch in this game.
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61 min James pokes another delicious pass through to Richarlison, nutmegging Urhoghide in the process. Richarlison sweeps a curling shot towards the far post, and Wildsmith springs to his left to push it behind. Good save.
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60 min Wednesday make a double change: Izzy Brown and Matt Penney replace Ryan Galvin and Callum Paterson.
GOAL! Everton 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday (Richarlison 59)
James swings an excellent corner to the near post, where Richarlison leaps to flick a deft header by Wildsmith. Everton are heading into the last 16, where they will host either Wycombe or Spurs.
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58 min Sigurdsson has a shot deflected behind for a corner. Everton are well on top just now.
57 min An Everton corner is headed away to James on the edge of the area. He steers a careful square pass to Doucoure, who slices his shot wide. That was a chance. James has played some gorgeous passes tonight.
56 min Richarlison plays an angled pass into the path of Calvert-Lewin, who rattles a first-time shot that is pawed round the near post by Wildsmith. That was a decent save, and a really good first-time effort from Calvert-Lewin as he was running away from goal.
55 min Gomes picks up a loose ball and drives wide from 25 yards.
54 min James’s free-kick is headed on at the near post, by Reach I think, and headed wide at the far post by Godfrey. He was under a fair bit of pressure so it wasn’t much of a chance.
52 min James angles a lovely first-time pass to the overlapping Coleman, but his cross is too deep.
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51 min Nothing much to report since half-time. Wednesday are a nice team to watch, but so far they have been a bit toothless.
48 min Windass tries a one-two with Bannan, whose return pass is slightly underhit. That allows Coleman to come across and intercept on the edge of the area.
46 min Peep peep! Everton begin the second half.
Wednesday have made a half-time change: Andre Green, who faded after a lively start, is replaced by Josh Windass.
Half-time reading
Half time: Everton 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Peep peep! Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s poacher’s goal has given Everton a deserved lead over Sheffield Wednesday. It’s been an enjoyable game, with both teams passing the ball confidently, but Everton have had the greater threat in attack.
45 min One added minute.
42 min Everton have played some lovely stuff in the last 15 or 20 minutes.
41 min Coleman scurries into the area and slides another dangerous low cross into the six-yard box. Richarlison is waiting at the far post for a tap-in, but Urhoghide does really well to get himself between Richarlison and the ball.
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39 min Everton are threatening to overwhelm Wednesday, who can’t afford to concede a second before half-time.
37 min A rabona pass from James tees up Sigurdsson, who lets the ball run across his body to lose Urhoghide but then thrashes his shot wide of the far post. That was lovely play from Everton.
34 min Everton break four on four, with Calvert-Lewin. He plays it out to Sigurdsson, who curls an excellent cross that flashes across the goal.
32 min Calvert-Lewin, as you probably know, started his career at his boyhood club Sheffield United.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin has given Everton the lead on his return to the side. The goal was made superbly by Andre Gomes, who shuffled away from Pelupessy on the left of the area and leathered the ball across the six-yard box. Calvert-Lewin, sliding in at the far post, finished it off.
GOAL! Everton 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday (Calvert-Lewin 29)
The big man is back.
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27 min James plays the ball into the area towards Calvert-Lewin, who fresh-airs an attempted backheel to Sigurdsson. The loose ball is picked up by James, whose curling shot is headed away by Brennan.
25 min Calvert-Lewin wins a corner for Everton. James’s inswinger just clears the leaping Calvert-Lewin in the middle and Wednesday force the ball away.
22 min Harris runs at Godfrey, who pokes the ball behind for a corner. Bannan’s inswinging corner shaves the head of an Everton player at the near post and flashes across the face of goal.
18 min Harris’s dangerous cross is cleared by Mina at the near post. Although Everton have had the biggest chance, Wednesday do look bright and breezy going forward.
17 min James plays another nice through pass, this time to Calvert-Lewin in the area. He takes it beautifully in his stride, dragging his studs over the ball to pirouette away from Urhoghide, and forces a low shot that is saved at the near post by Wildsmith.
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15 min The debutant Green cuts infield from the left and stings Olsen’s palms with a decent effort. He looks lively.
13 min That pass from James really was exquisite.
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12 min: Richarlison has a goal disallowed! Ach, that’s a shame, because it was a gorgeous goal. James wandered infield from the right and played a devastating through pass, perfectly weighted to take Brennan out of the game and bring Richarlison into it. He finished calmly past Wildsmith, but replays showed he was fractionally offside.
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9 min Richarlison flashes a terrific cross from the left that just evades Calvert-Lewin.
8 min: Richarlison hits the bar! Coleman moves into space down the right and swings a deep cross towards Richarlison, whose header is pushed/fumbled onto the top of the bar by Wildsmith.
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5 min Wednesday have made a bright start and look perky in possession. For tactics fans, this is their revised line-up:
Sheffield Wednesday (3-3-2-2) Wildsmith; Urhoghide, Borner, Brennan; Harris, Pelupessy, Galvin; Reach, Bannan; Paterson, Green.
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4 min Adam Reach finds himself in space 25 yards from goal. He pushes the ball forward and hits a rising drive across goal that is pushed behind by Olsen. It was a fairly comfortable save, but it was also a good strike from Reach.
3 min Richarlison has a snapshot blocked by a Wednesday defender, Brennan I think.
2 min BT Sport were right: Wednesday are playing 3-5-2. Nothing else to report yet.
1 min Peep peep! Sheffield Wednesday, in their black away kit, kick off from left to right. Everton are in blue.
The BT Sport folk have Sheffield Wednesday playing a 3-5-2, with Harris and Galvin as wing-backs and Green and Paterson up front. We’ll soon find out.
Here come the teams. I should have said that the Everton subs bench includes Thierry Small, a 16-year-old left-back; he will become their youngest ever player if he gets on.
It’s just not football
But this is tremendous fun.
Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Dickwella likes a chat! 💬💬💬
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) January 24, 2021
He has teased Bairstow for being "dropped", hailed Lawrence's play against spin - and asked Root for a bat! 🤣#SLvENG 🇱🇰🏴
📺 Watch 👉 https://t.co/bT0CP9Q8No
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“Hi Rob,” says Matt Burtz. “Considering the injuries and the Leicester game on Wednesday, this is probably Carlo’s strongest lineup. They haven’t played in 12 days and there should be no excuses here, but as you’ve already noted, this is Everton we’re talking about. Fingers crossed.”
They’ve had some special cup defeats since the turn of the century, haven’t they? We all remember Shrewsbury but there’s also Oldham, Tranmere, Reading, Wigan, even Liverpool reserves last year.
“Evening, Smyth,” says Sean Clayton. “This could be a massacre - Everton have got the likes of DCL and James against a Wednesday back four including three U-23 players with fewer than 10 career starts each. What’s the audio version of watching through your fingers?”
Good question. Listening on headphones with the commentary in one ear and Brian Eno in the other?
The teams in (probable) formation
Everton (4-2-3-1) Olsen; Coleman, Holgate, Mina, Godfrey; Doucoure, Gomes; James, Sigurdsson, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin.
Substitutes: Pickford, Lossl, Kenny, Keane, Bernard, Gordon, Davies, Small, Onyango.
Sheffield Wednesday (4-2-3-1) Wildsmith; Urhoghide, Brennan, Borner, Galvin; Bannan, Pelupessy; Harris, Reach, Green; Paterson.
Substitutes: Jackson, Palmer, Marriott, Penney, Dele-Bashiru, Windass, Brown, Hunt, Kachunga.
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Pre-match reading
If you don’t want to know the Man Utd/Liverpool score, look away before I post the next entry
Team news
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has been out with a hamstring injury, plays for the first time since New Year’s Day. Carlo Ancelotti has picked a very strong side, though Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane have been given a rest.
Andre Green makes his debut for Sheffield Wednesday, though we’re not sure whether he’ll play wide or up front. They are without the teenage defender Liam Shaw, who played brilliantly in those three wins under Neil Thompson. There’s no official explanation why Shaw is not involved tonight, but if you fancy a bit of feckless, baseless, clueless, meaningless, worthless, headless, witless speculation as to why he is not involved, check out twitter.com, where less is more.
⚠️ TEAM NEWS! ⚠️
— Everton (@Everton) January 24, 2021
▫️ @CalvertLewin14 returns.
▫️ Teenagers Thierry Small (16) and Tyler Onyango (17) feature on the bench.#EmiratesFACup #COYB pic.twitter.com/YjtZFMVIsa
Here's how we line up at Goodison Park this evening! #swfc #EmiratesFACup
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) January 24, 2021
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Preamble
Hello. In the FA Cup, every fixture tells a story. Tonight’s meeting between Everton and Sheffield Wednesday at Goodison Park evokes two classic ties – the 1966 FA Cup final, when Everton came from 2-0 down to win 3-2, and the marathon of 1988, when it took four games to separate the teams in the third round. After three 1-1 draws, Everton settled the matter with a perverse 5-0 win at Hillsborough. (There was also a belting quarter-final in 1906, which Everton won 4-3, but you don’t care about, do you, you xenophobe.)
Logic suggests this will be a comfortable game for Everton, though we’ve said that a few times in the 26 years since they last won the FA Cup. They are sixth in the Premier League; Sheffield Wednesday are 23rd in the Championship. Even without their six-point deduction, Wednesday would only be 20th.
To make things worse, their last two games have been postponed because of a Covid outbreak. But their form before that was spotless, with three wins out of three under the caretaker manager Neil Thompson, so maybe a shock isn’t beyond the realms. If Wednesday do win, it’ll add to an already rich story when these two next meet in the FA Cup.
Kick off is at 8pm. The winners will be at home to Wycombe or Spurs in the fifth round.
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