Everton team news and full line-ups for match at Accrington Stanley
Harrison Armstrong arrives for Everton
Carlos Alcaraz, Jarrad Branthwaite and Harrison Armstrong are among the senior players who will start Everton’s first pre-season friendly. Michael Keane, fresh from signing a new deal with the Blues, James Garner, Vitalii Mykolenko, Youssef Chermiti, Tim Iroegbunam and Nathan Patterson also start.
Those first team players form a senior core that will start the game ahead of Harry Tyrer, the 23-year-old who is the most experienced keeper in the squad with Jordan Pickford - like Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye - absent having only started their pre-season on Monday.
A youthful bench includes just two senior players - Beto and Jake O’Brien - with 17-year-old Braiden Graham and U21s player of last season Isaac Heath among a squad filled with academy starlets.
The group features just one of the summer signings to date - Alcaraz - with Thierno Barry and Mark Travers not in the squad. It will be Branthwaite’s first appearance in front of Blues since he signed his new five-year-deal and 18-year-old starlet Armstrong will have the opportunity to shine after his impressive loan spell at Derby County.
Perhaps the player with the biggest opportunity is Chermiti, who will lead the front line for David Moyes. The 21-year-old enjoyed a fast start to pre-season last year before injury ruined his season.
First XI: Tyrer, Patterson, Keane, McNeil, Mykolenko, Chermiti, Alcaraz, Branthwaite, Garner, Iroegbunam, Armstrong
Subs: Barnsley, Beto, O’Brien, Metcalfe, Tamen, Clarke, Graham. Onyango, Samuels-Smith, Gomez, Heath