Everton v Dagenham & Redbridge - FA Cup third round match preview

After the joys of Wednesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final first leg win over Manchester City, Everton remain in cup action this weekend as they enter the FA Cup at the third round stage.

All Premier League and Championship clubs enter at this stage to join the remaining League 1, League 2 and non-league sides who made it through the early rounds, with 32 games played across the weekend.

The draw has been relatively kind for Everton this year. Not only are they are home but have been drawn to face Dagenham and Redbridge, currently third from bottom in League 2.

However, Evertonians won’t need reminding that Shrewsbury Town were bottom of the entire Football League when they beat us 2-1 in 2003, a telling reminder as to the ‘magic of the cup'.

The opposition

Dag & Red are one of the newest clubs in the Football League having been formed in 1992 following the merger of Dagenham and Redbridge Forest and Saturday will be the first time they have played Everton.

They took Redbridge Forest’s place in the Football Conference (the division below League 2) but were relegated to the Isthmian Premier in 1996.

They would spend four years in that division before returning to the Conference in 2000. Seven years later they were promoted to the Football League for the first time as Conference champions.

Victory in the 2009-10 play-offs saw them promoted to League 1 for the first time but their stay in the third tier of English football was a brief one and they were relegated the following season.

Since then they have been largely a mid-table side in League Two, though their struggles this season saw manager Wayne Burnett sacked in December.

John Still, who was the club’s first ever manager in 1992 and guided them to League 1 in 2010, returned for a third spell in charge later that month.

Their cup adventure has proven to be a timely distraction from their league woes, though they needed extra-time to beat none-league Whitehawk in a second replay to reach this stage.

The top scorer is the evergreen Jamie Cureton, who made his senior debut for Norwich City against Everton way back in 1993 and at 40 is the oldest current outfield player in England’s top four divisions.

Team news

Roberto Martinez has confirmed that Romelu Lukaku, Tom Cleverley and Seamus Coleman all miss out after picking up injuries against Man City in midweek.

Phil Jagielka and Steven Pienaar are expected to start after recovering from knee and hamstring injuries respectively.

Conor McAleny and Leandro Rodriguez could also feature in what is expected to be a much-changed Toffees line-up.

Hey, even Kevin Mirallas might start.

The final word

If Everton approach this properly then they should progress without any problems. However, they should not underestimate Dag & Red who will relish the chance to take on a Premier League side. Everton do not want to write themselves in the history books for all the wrong reasons.

That said, they should have enough quality to reach the next round and if they don’t then serious questions will have to be asked.

Predicted starting XI: Robles, Stones, Jagielka, Funes Mori, Galloway, Besic, Osman, Mirallas, Pienaar, Lennon, Kone.