Everton v Sheffield Wednesday: FA Cup fourth round – live!

“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?

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.

If you don’t want to know the Man Utd/Liverpool score, look away before I post the next entry

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.

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.