Five presents another night of live UEFA Cup football as Everton welcome Norwegian side Brann to Goodison Park for the second leg of the Round of 32 –the first knockout stage of the competition. Five’s coverage is anchored by Colin Murray, while commentary comes from Dave Woods. Kick-off is at 20.00.
Recent form in both domestic competition and the UEFA Cup means that David Moyes’s Everton will be the rightful favourites going into tonight’s game against Brann. This year has seen the Toffees make it to the semi-final stage of the Carling Cup, where they only narrowly missed out on a final showdown with Tottenham thanks to a stubborn performance by current holders Chelsea. A run of great results in the Premier League, meanwhile, has seen them leapfrog local rivals Liverpool to occupy the coveted fourth place in the table. Whilethey may dream of Champions League football next season, however, Everton have remained fully focused on this year’s European challenge and have earned results to match. Having won all four of their group-stage clashes, they finished top of Group A with a maximum 12 points.

So far in this campaign, Everton have brushed aside Greek side Larissa, Nuremberg of Germany and Zenit St Petersburg of Russia, but perhaps their most impressive result was against AZ Alkmaar away from home. Despite having already qualified as group leaders, Everton travelled to the Netherlands looking to gain maximum points and went ahead within two minutes thanks to a cool finish from Andy Johnson. Italian striker Pelle equalised for AZ, before new signing Phil Jagielka opened his Everton account with a header that sent his side into the break with their lead intact.

AZ managed to level the game once more in the 65th minute, but substitute James Vaughan struck ten minutes from time to win the game 3–2 and send the Dutch side out of the UEFA Cup.

When the draw for the Round of 32 was made, Everton manager David Moyes admitted to knowing very little about Norwegian champions Brann. “It is hard to tell whether it is a good or a bad draw,” he said. “I don’t know a lot about them.” However, he and his side will no doubt have learned much from the first leg of the tie last Wednesday. “We will treat them with respect and look forward to the match,” added Moyes.

While Everton eased through the group stage of this year’s competition, Brann were made to work hard. Having lost their first match to Hamburg, they claimed a draw at Rennes, before earning Dinamo Zagreb at home. They lost their final game away against Basel, but scraped through to the knockout stages with a third-place positioning in Group D.

However, Brann’s form in the domestic league has been more impressive. The champions are currently sitting pretty at the top of the Tippeligaen –the Norwegian premier division – with the second-place club nowhere in sight. With his team the underdogs against Everton tonight, Brann manager Mons Ivar Mjelde will feel he has nothing to lose.

Key players for Everton tonight will be top- scorer Yakubu, Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Andy Johnson; while Brann’s hopes lie with Norwegian player of the year Thorstein Helstad and ex-Leeds midfielder Eirik Bakke.

Thursday 21st February at 7:30pm on five