Everton
Match Preview: Sporting Lisbon v Everton K.O 20.05
By The Nark End
February 25 2010
A LOOK AHEAD TO TONIGHTS CRUCIAL GAME AT THE ESTADIO JOSE ALVALADE...
A huge game for the blues tonight,and i am quite confident of getting a result over there,even though they got a crucial away goal in last weeks game,i didnt think they were great,im sure there will be some nervous Blues watching it because do we ever do anything easy.
There has been talk about Phil Jagielka maybe starting tonight,i would be very very surprised if he did,i mean come on,would you throw him in after almost a year out!! I think moyes might of just took him along to get him back into the swing of things,put him on the bench etc.
The team has been flying of late,so my predictions for tonight are a win for the Blues.......3-1!!! Feel free to leave your predictions below.....
Moyes:"We're going for the win"
Everton manager David Moyes has declared his side are out to beat Sporting Lisbon tomorrow as he prepares to lead the Club into its 5000th game.
The Blues are leading 2-1 in the Europa League last 32 clash ahead of the second leg showdown at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, meaning a draw would be enough to see them into the next round.
Everton could have travelled with a two-goal advantage but a Miguel Veloso penalty in the dying minutes of the first leg has left the tie evenly poised.
However a spectacular 3-1 win over Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday has left the Blues full of confidence and Moyes has promised there will be no change in approach ahead of a landmark night in Lisbon.
"We will play the same way," he said at his pre-match press conference. "Sporting's goal swung the momentum and they'll go into this game thinking they have a chance.
"It doesn't change how we come in because we come in trying to win it. We go in with great confidence, we've been in good form for a long period now. There have been a few games where maybe we haven't been as good but on the whole we've been in good form. The Manchester United game was good for us and we hope to repeat [the result] again.
"We need to play the same as we did against Manchester United, that's what we need to do."
Last time Moyes brought his side to Lisbon in October they suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Sporting's great rivals Benfica.
Since then the manager has seen the return of a number of key first-team players from injury and with it a change in fortunes on the pitch.
There is more good news with Phil Jagielka, the centre back last seen in April last year, deemed fit enough to travel to the Portuguese capital and Moyes pointed to recent results as proof this is now a far stronger Everton side.
"We're playing better but it was a difficult game at Goodison Park and it will be a difficult game here. We're playing much better now though and more like we have in the last few years," he said. "It's not quite so bad when you've got a full squad to choose from.
"The next game is always the most important one," he added. "We'd like to do well in this competition and go as far as we can."
Everton squad: Howard, Nash, Turner, Baines, Yobo, Neville, Coleman, Senderos, Jagielka, Duffy, Arteta, Osman, Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov, Gosling, Rodwell, Baxter, Donovan, Yakubu, Anichebe, Vaughan, Saha.
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