Everton take on Sporting CP at Goodison Park in their last pre-season friendly of the summer ahead of the 2023/24 season. Yes, that does also mean tomorrow is the FA Community Shield, which also then means that the new season is now upon us whence Everton will play meaningful games every weekend and once again torment us so. It is the labor of our love for the Toffees.
There’s more bad news on the injury front with Arnaut Danjuma held out of training on Friday as a precaution, and Dwight McNeil has not returned to training after leaving the game against Stoke City following a heavy tackle. Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Vitaliy Mykolenko got some much-needed minutes midweek behind the scenes so there might be some respite there.
Youssef Chermiti apparently hasn’t traveled with the Sporting squad, though it is expected that he will be on Merseyside sooner than later for his medical and to sign with the Blues. Another interesting tidbit here is that Viktor Gyokeres will likely be lining up for the visitors. The former Coventry City striker had long been linked with the Toffees, but it sounds like no official bids were ever made by the Merseyside outfit for the combative Sweden international forward. Instead, the Blues sold Ellis Simms to the Sky Blues for a starting fee of £3.5 million, and could well end up at £8m with all the add-ons.
Competition: 2023-24 Summer Pre-Season Friendly #6
Date and start time: Saturday, August 5th at 7:00 a.m. PT / 10:00 a.m ET / 3:00 p.m. BST
Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Capacity: 39,572
Weather: 57°F/14°C, rainy, 88% chance of precipitation, 16 mph winds
TV: Fox Deportes – United States; N/A – United Kingdom; beIN Sports 2 Australia, Arena Sport 1, DAZN Japan, Sport TV1
Radio: Everton FC
Live stream: evertontv, Foxsports.com, Fox Sports App
Gamethread: There will be no live blog for this game
*Royal Blue Mersey has affiliate partnerships and may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links provided.
Information from LiveSoccerTV.com
Everton
As reported earlier, Danjuma does miss the game today as a precaution after picking up a minor knock in training.
Ben Godfrey gets the nod next to James Tarkowski in the heart of the defence. Ashley Young starts at left back.
With McNeil out, Dyche has gone with five midfielders, will be interesting to see who plays out wide, Iwobi and Garner possibly?
Sporting CP
The Blues have only played Sporting Lisbon in the club’s history, in the Round of 32 double-legged playoff of the Europa League in the 2009-10 season. Under David Moyes the Toffees won 2-1 at home in the first leg in a game they should have really put daylight between the two sides, and then were walloped 3-0 in the away leg a week later to end the hopes of any silverware that season.
