BATE v Everton preview

01 October 2009 10:07
Everton will be without nine first-team players when they take on BATE Borisov in the Europa League. The Toffees travel to Minsk for their second game in Group I, on the back of an impressive 4-0 demolition of AEK Athens at Goodison Park. Manager David Moyes will have to do without a number of key players, including Steven Pienaar and Jack Rodwell who are both out of action. Pienaar is sidelined after a challenge with South Africa team-mate Aaron Mokoena against Portsmouth last weekend, while Rodwell continues to recover from illness. Lucas Neill and John Heitinga do not travel to Belarus as they are ineligible for the fixture, although Neill played 90 minutes for the Everton reserves in midweek and is expected to return to first-team action soon. Nigerian striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu is named in the squad as he looks to regain match fitness, and he is joined by youngsters James Wallace, Dan Gosling, Hope Akpan, Shane Duffy and Shkodran Mustafi. However, long-term absentees Mikel Arteta, Phil Neville, Victor Anichebe and Phil Jagielka stay behind, while Louis Saha serves a one-match ban after his sending off against AEK. Prepared "We know a bit about them, we watched them in the Champions League last year and they're a strong side, it will be a hard game," said Toffees boss David Moyes. "They didn't do great in the competition they were in, but they certainly didn't let themselves down. I would see BATE as our biggest rivals along with Benfica to go through from the group." BATE play their home European games at the Dinamo Stadium, which is not their usual ground, and they have not won there in six attempts. Viktor Goncharenko's side come into the game on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Benfica and will be looking to get their European campaign up and running.

Source: SKY_Sports