Team news

The recently passed deadline day saw several players secure moves in and around the Football League. This will give more players the opportunity to impress and stake a claim in the starting line-up and squad.

Harvey Vale and Xavier Simons both made moves to Hull City on loan, Bryan Fiabema will ply his trade this season at Forest Green Rovers and Jayden Wareham is with Leyton Orient on loan too. Joe Haigh was the last player to finalise his loan move as he will spend half the season on loan at Derby initially linking up with the Under-21 squad.

Our form

After two defeats on the bounce against London opposition, our young Blues put in an impressive performance last time out against Manchester City which did enough to earn us a draw. Vale and Lewis Hall were on the scoresheet in what proved to be a great game for the neutral.

A look at Everton

Our opponents will be a tough test as they are one of the six remaining unbeaten sides in the Premier League 2. In their first four games they have secured three victories and one draw.

Tom Cannon has scored in three of the four games for the hosts, bagging a brace in a fixture against Manchester United.

Academy news

In other Academy news, our Under-18s embark on their new Premier League campaign as the holders with a group-stage fixture against Southampton away from home.

The young Saints and our young Blues drew two-all in last week’s U18 Premier League game, so both sides will be looking to get the best of each other.