Betting Preview: Everton v Manchester City

Everton have embraced the competition this season, knocking out Barnsley, Reading, Norwich and Middlesbrough to reach the last four, and Martinez knows what influence his fans can have when they tackle Manchester City in the first leg of the semi-final.

City head to Goodison lifted by their first away win in the Premier League since September as they look to reach the final at Wembley on February 28.

“At the moment we have two goalkeepers who have been sharing that role in a very important fashion and every player needs to be ready and understand what it means to play for our football club”.

“We’re working really hard with him but today it was just important for us to have that figure of a captain and that feeling of comfort”.

“I truly believe we are not far away from bringing glory into our football club”.

City won the League Cup for a third time in 2014 when goals from Toure, Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas gave them a 3-1 victory in the final over Sunderland, while Everton have never won the tournament and last made the final in 1984.

“We have got a big cup game to come now this week”.

He needs to be up to speed when he does make his return, as we don’t want him to damage himself, and we don’t want him on the field and unfit, like in the Derby, at Anfield, when he was playing with a hamstring strain. We’ve got really good attacking options and Kevin was unfortunate.

The Toffees played out a thrilling 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Merseyside in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon after Aaron Lennon’s opener was cancelled out by Dele Alli.

“Our fans are a huge part of how we can perform at home”.

The Toffees welcome the League Two strugglers to Goodison Park for the third round tie on Saturday in a game Martinez is likely to make several changes for following the busy festive period.

With talent such as John Stones, Ross Barkley, Gerard Deulofeu and the prolific Romelu Lukaku in their ranks, it is hard to see how the hosts not won a home game since mid-November.

“No, he’s not fit to start [on Wednesday]”, Martinez said.