Match Preview: Accrington Stanley v Everton | OneFootball

The first few matches in pre-season are as meaningless as it gets in first-team professional football, with coaches and managers juggling to make up sufficient numbers as the senior players return in dribs and drabs, with varying levels of fitness.

The first pre-season friendly takes place on Tuesday evening at the Wham Stadium in Accrington — almost 12 years to the day since Everton were last here for a pre-season runabout. And with Everton still not really making full use of the transfer window yet, the prevailing concern going onto this game is that David Moyes simply does not have enough players in his first-team squad.

The situation is further exacerbated by Jordan Pickford, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye being given extended summer breaks following their international duties after the Premier League season ended, and they have only just returned to Finch Farm on Monday 14 July.

This meant they missed out on the training camp in Scotland last week, and the first full week of pre-season training , which means they are unlikely to be involved in this pre-season friendly against Accrington Stanley.

The squad will probably include 23-year-old Harry Tyrer, whose most senior experience has been with Blackpool in League One, and 18-year-old midfield starlet Harrison Armstrong, who enjoyed a breakthrough campaign last season on loan at Derby County.

Despite signing a 4-year deal, Everton's only new signing so far, Thierno Barry, is yet to join the Finch Farm squad and he won’t be involved tonight either. Perhaps in his place, David Moyes will be tempted to see how Braiden Graham performs if he is thrust into the limelight. There are also certain to be a number of other young players from the U21s and U18s involved tonight, especially on the substitutes bench.

Other concerns relate to the possible lingering impact of injuries to key players that were sustained toward the end of last season, especially the hamstring injuries to Everton's key defenders, James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite.

Fans who have signed up with the club as official members and paid their new substantially increased annual fee have the opportunity to stream this match live via EvertonFC.com through the additional purchase of a ‘MatchPass’ — but only for an additional fee of £7.99. There is a double-header option which will get you both this game and Saturday’s game at Blackburn Rovers at the discounted price of £9.99.

For those who are travelling to the Lancashire town to watch the game in person at the Wham Stadium, tickets are still available via the Accrington Stanley website.

Thanks Michael.

The Wham Stadium. I don't know if that's worse than Wimbledon's Cherry Red Records name for Plough Lane, which I visited last season I visited last season.

It will, as you, and Rob said on another thread, feature a lot of the youngsters. Maybe Coleman and Keane will play. Chermiti??

At least Everton are back now.

Long wait for EFC to play a game but here we are. Meaningless for several reasons yes, but as Michael suggests, very interesting to see if young Harrison & Braden play & how they go.

4 Posted 14/07/2025 at 22:55:17

Larry,

Over the years, Everton have often played local lower-league teams in pre-season friendlies.

You could perhaps make an argument that this approach is not optimal and that there are other teams which could be chosen.

I don't think it makes much difference, to be honest: it's a glorified public training game. It's part of a process to get the players back in the swing of things, and I don't think it matters all that much who the opposition is in the initial pre-season games.