Everton to head to Liberty for third round showdown
It shows how far we've come that when I scanned the Third Round fixtures announced last night Swansea vs Everton appeared, to me at least, to be the "biggest" game of the round. At least until I re-read it more thoroughly and noticed Arsenal vs Southampton anyway.
Either way, it's hard to argue that Swansea v Everton isn't that much less of an intriguing fixture. The jury is still out on Southampton following their summer fire-sale, while Arsenal look bereft of attacking options, so seeing Martinez's increasingly confident Everton take on a Swansea side who, to some, are still an unknown quantity under Monk is, in my opinion, just an attractive a televisual option.
Monk has already said he's taking every competition seriously this season, so whether we see wholesale changes in the next round of the cup (as we did against Rotherham) is unclear, but when you look at the calibre of some of the players who came in we can clearly change things up without removing quality. In most positions anyway. I can't say I know whether Martinez will put out a second team but I doubt he'll want to give Monk an easy opportunity to get one over on him.
It remains to be seen which match(es) the broadcasting powers that be deem fit to be shown across the nation, but it wouldn't surprise me if our tie got the nod. Considering 13,000 came to see us defeat Rotherham, it's realisitic to expect this wouldn't affect the attendance too much, and I'm sure we would come close to, if not selling out even if people did have the option of watching from home. These ties are handy cash boosts for the club, though they'll undoubtedly already be planning the ticketing system given the delays last time out.
One things for sure - I'm pre-booking my ticket this time!