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Everton suffer Embarrassing Cup exit on the south coast

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Everton have suffered their second 3rd round EFL Cup exit in two seasons, losing 4-1 to fellow Premier League outfit, Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium with the toffee’s performance bringing a lot of criticism. 

There would already be a bit of pressure on Frank Lampard’s side having lost in their last outing, with Leicester City coming out 2-0 winners at Goodison Park on Saturday

Opponents, Bournemouth also fell to a disappointing loss in their previous fixture, losing 4-3 at Elland Road after being 3-1 up at one stage in the game. 

Both teams would make drastic changes to their line-ups, with Frank Lampard starting 11 new players compared to the line-up preferred for their previous fixture. The Cherries would make 9 chances, with only Mark Travers and Chris Mepham maintaining their starting spaces.

Although on paper the visitor’s squad looked the better, it was the home side that would have an early dominance over the game. Jamal Lowe’s effort would take a wicked deflection, looping his shot over Asmir Begovic to give Bournemouth the lead inside 10 minutes. 

Everton would react to going behind by calving out a few decent chances. The best of which being for Tom Davies who skied his effort from 10 yards out after being put through 1 on 1 with the Bournemouth keeper. 

Neither side would manage to create many clear-cut chances in the later stages of the 1st half, with the home side going into the half-time break 1-0 up. 

Frank Lampard must have demanded a fast start to the second half from his side, but that is exactly the opposite of what he got. 

Just 2 minutes after the restart, Junior Stanislas would double Bournemouth’s lead, edging the blues one step closer to an early exit from the EFL Cup.

Despite being 2-0 down with only 40 minutes to play, the toffees would continue to be second best in most areas of the pitch, with bad finishing giving the visitors lots of let-offs before the hour mark. 

A curling Demarai Gray finish after some neat build-up play from the blues would provide them with a lifeline in the game with just over 20 minutes to play. But again, they failed to capitalise. 

Second-half substitute, Emiliano Marcondes would put the tie to rest in the 79th minute after some horrific defending. Then Jaidon Anthony, who was linked with a move to Goodison Park during the summer, added salt to the deep Everton wombs, capping a really successful outing for his side by scoring their 4th. 

The game would end 4-1 to the cherries, with the blues putting in one of their worst performances of the season thus far. 

Everton face Bournemouth at The Vitality Stadium again on Saturday and will be seeking revenge. However, given how bad the performance was, the pressure on Lampard’s side is sky-high going into the weekend. 

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