Prediction: Everton vs Leicester City

Verdict: Away win

Best odds: 11/8

Bookmaker: bet365

Everton and Leicester City are set to stand against each other at Goodison Park on Wednesday evening in the quarterfinals of this season’s Carabao Cup. It should be an interesting encounter, for several reasons.

Everton

The Toffees were in a very bad way during the last several weeks of Marco Silva’s reign. Though a game against the team sitting top of the table while defending the Champions League crown is hardly the right yard-stick to measure a team against, the Merseyside Derby is always important and the way Everton were overrun by Liverpool at Anfield seems to have been the final nail in Silva’s coffin.

It’s been a different story since interim boss Duncan Ferguson took over, as the Blues first beat Chelsea at home and then drew away to Manchester United. It seems that the Scotsman has managed to snap the players, who can hardly be said to lack quality, out of the stupor they had fallen into under Silva. Everton are currently in 16th place in the Premier League, and that only goes to show how deep in trouble they were.

However, this is now a different competition and probably one of the toughest opponents they could have gotten.

Team News

Ferguson is hopeful that midfielders Fabian Delph and Gylfi Sigurdsson who could be back after a thigh injury and illness, respectively. Given it’s a cup game, some degree of rotation is expected regardless of the opposition. For example, Djibril Sidibe and former captain Leighton Baines could start on defensive flanks instead of Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne.

Leicester City

It’s been a great season for the Foxes so far. Brendan Rodgers has instilled a great team philosophy, and his team are playing very attractive, high-quality football which has seen them reached second place in the league, ahead of the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea. Leicester may have shocked the world when they won the Premier League in 2016, but it is widely believed that this team now is even better than that one was.

Jamie Vardy is still there, terrorizing the opposition defences once more, while Kasper Schmeichel still holds things tight in front of his goal at the other end. The rest of the team is completely new, compared to that one. There’s no more N’Golo Kante to break the opposition play, or Riyad Mahrez to act as the main creator, but Wilfried Ndidi and James Maddison appear more than up to the task of filling their shoes.

The Foxes may be considered underdogs in the league compared to Liverpool, but one of the cups is certainly within their reach, so they will probably go fully into the clash with the aim of dispatching Everton from the competition.

Team News

The only absent player from the Leicester squad is midfielder Matty James, who has been out for several months now. Rodgers hasn’t had a habit of rotating too much, but he is bound to do it this time, given that his team face Manchester City on Saturday for a game that could have much bearing on the way the season unfolds.

Conclusion

Despite the recent improvements, it’s hard to see this Everton side getting past the excellent machine that is Leicester. Rodgers has really done his job well, and his team shouldn’t find it too hard to progress to the semi-finals.

Verdict: Away win

Best odds: 11/8

Bookmaker: bet365