Joey Barton is looking forward to coming face-to-face with David Unsworth as Fleetwood Town visit Goodison Park later this month.
Everton U21s are hosting the League One side in Round Two of the EFL Trophy on 26th November having progressed passed the group stages of the tournament for the first time in four seasons.
Last weekend the young Blues drew Fleetwood for a tie originally set for the week the senior side are playing a Merseyside Derby at Anfield, but t was confirmed on Thursday the match has now been brought forward.
Barton will be meeting Unsworth on the touchline for the first time since a bizarre rant when the latter was in caretaker charge of the first team in 2017.
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The opposition manager believes his comments two years ago will add extra bite to an occasion he certainly isn't taking lightly.
Barton told the Blackpool Gazette: "It’s a challenge we’ve got to overcome.
"I think some of my comments when I was working on the radio will no doubt add a little bit of fuel to the occasion.
"I’m sure it’ll be nothing that we’ve not dealt with before and be something we’ll look forward to dealing with again.
"We’ll pay them the ultimate respect by picking the strongest side we can, we want to go to Wembley and I’m sure they do.
"We expect a really good cup tie. Hopefully we’ll get a good crowd there."
The trip to Goodison Park comes three days after Fleetwood host Tranmere in the league, before travelling to Crawley Town for an FA Cup tie the following weekend.
And the boss believes his side will be relishing the occasion on Merseyside and won't be daunted by what will be a busy schedule.
"I’m looking forward to it," Barton added.
"It’s been moved to Tuesday now, there was a bit of nonsense about when it was being arranged but finally we have it in the diary now.
"It comes as a part of a congested period of fixtures. We’re delighted, we just want to bounce game to game now.
"We’re really enjoying it. It’s a good challenge for us, a midweek game, going back to Goodison.
"It’ll be nice. It’ll be the first time I’ve ever done that as a manager, albeit against an U21s side. It would be nice to go there in the league on a consistent basis."
