“There are no easy games and you’ve got to beat the best to get to the finals. So the fact that we’re playing Tottenham at Tottenham might suit us, because they are expected to win and if we set our stall out, we’ve got a good chance of an upset.”
Having led his side into a final for the first time last season, going down 2-1 to Chelsea in the FA Cup, David Moyes would also love another crack at Wembley this term in the Carling Cup.
The Scot arrived at Goodison Park less than a month after Neill missed out on Blackburn’s triumph and for all his progress with Everton, he still craves that elusive first piece of silverware.
Moyes went on record ahead of last season’s FA Cup semi-final to declare that Everton would “win a cup soon”.
But if that cup in question is to be the three-handled trophy then a major shift in fortune will be needed.
In the 1977 final, Gordon Lee’s side attempted to bring some cheer to the Blue side of the city only to be undone at the third time of asking by Aston Villa.
Perhaps even more galling for the club was the 1984 replay defeat to neighbours Liverpool at Maine Road after the first ever all-Merseyside final at Wembley but at least on that occasion the FA Cup, a first trophy in 14 years, followed before the end of the campaign and more glories followed the next year.
Two seasons ago, Moyes led Everton to their first semi-final in any competition for 13 years by reaching the last four of the Carling Cup only to be undone by Chelsea.
At the time, the Londoners’ great unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge still stood but in the first leg James McFadden struck the post with a glorious chance when the score was 1-1 and Everton were sunk in the last minute through a Joleon Lescott own goal.
With so many players currently on the Finch Farm treatment table, Everton will have to do things the hard way if they are to make progress in this season’s competition but having defeated the top two teams in the Premier League – who just happened to be their great North West rivals – last term to reach the FA Cup final without their most consistent defender, their most creative midfielder and their most prolific striker, when has it been any different for Moyes and his men?
