The most prominent matchup of Carabao Cup’s second round is the first one between former and current Premier League sides Swansea and Crystal Palace.
Swansea vs. Crystal Palace Preview
Swansea’s manager Graham Potter is dealing with multiple absentees. Midfielder Jay Fulton broke a bone in his hand over the weekend, Oli McBurnie has a cracked toe, Cameron Carter-Vickers has a leg injury, whereas goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt will likely miss out due to a groin injury. That opens the door for some of the younger players on the roster to come in and earn more playing time.
Swansea vs Crystal Palace Odds
Steven Benda could make his Swansea debut between the posts, while Leroy Fer and Wilfried Bony, who are still recovering from their respective injuries, could be in line for some action as well.
Jordan Ayew and James Tomkins will not be available for Roy Hodgson, who’s expected to rotate his team for the trip to Wales. Ayew is on loan at Crystal Palace from Swansea, thus ineligible to face his parent club. Tomkins suffered a calf injury in pre-game warm-up against Watford.
Swansea vs. Crystal Palace Bet365 Odds
This is the first ever cup meeting between Swansea and Crystal Palace. Overall, the Welsh side has lost just one of the last fourteen matches against Crystal Palace (W7, D6, L1). Both teams are coming off home losses and will be eager to get back on track with a win. History is on Swansea’s side but the talent is on Palace’s. Hodgson might opt to rest a few starters, making this a very difficult game to predict.
The kick-off is today at 20:30 CET.
Everton Team News
In other news, Theo Walcott praised his new manager Marco Silva for changing Everton’s style of play and boosting their intensity.
“… there is a very positive structure we have,”
“The way we train is with that high intensity, the manager is bedding that into our system and it’s becoming a habit which is what you want it to become.”
“You have to train the way you play. And then the manager will play you. Obviously, we are learning from him as well, and what he brings to the team.”
Indeed, the former Arsenal winger is doing extremely well under his new head coach. He already has two goals and an assist under his name and even earned the Man of the Match award against Bournemouth.
“I think you can sense the style we are playing is completely different to what we are used to and I am thoroughly enjoying it.”
Everton Odds
Meanwhile, Everton’s star Richarlison whose fantastic start to the season was blemished by a red card in the 2-2 draw at Bournemouth earned his first Brazil cap. The 21-year-old was called by Tite for the upcoming friendlies with the U.S.A. and El Salvador, putting a tick next to one of his three season goals.
