Bournemouth 4-1 Everton: Cherries thump Toffees to reach Carabao Cup last 16

Bournemouth won for the first time in six games as they convincingly beat Everton 4-1 at the Vitality Stadium to reach the Carabao Cup fourth round.

Goals from Jamal Lowe (7) and Junior Stanislas (47) gave Bournemouth a 2-0 lead on the south coast before Everton substitute Demarai Gray (67) halved the deficit to give Frank Lampard’s side a lifeline.

But two quick-fire strikes from Cherries substitute Emiliano Marcondes (78) and Jaidon Anthony (82) made sure it was Gary O’Neil’s team who will progress to the last 16.

Bournemouth will find out who they will face in the next round on Thursday. The draw follows Manchester United vs Aston Villa, a game live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm; kick-off 8pm.

How Bournemouth thrashed lacklustre Everton

Bournemouth, who made nine changes to their side following Saturday’s 4-3 loss at Leeds, took the lead in the seventh minute when Lowe’s right-footed strike from inside the box deflected off James Garner and looped over Asmir Begovic into the Everton net.

The Toffees, who changed their entire starting line-up after being beaten 2-0 by Leicester at the weekend, responded well to going behind, but Tom Davies could only miss the target when played through on goal, while Garner saw a long-range effort saved well by Mark Travers and Anthony Gordon could only head over from a few yards out.

Bournemouth weathered that Everton storm and the only other incident of note in the first half came in the 44th minute when Gordon was fortunate to only receive a yellow card for a late challenge on Jordan Zemura. With VAR not in operation until the semi-final stage, there was no check and it remained 11 against 11 at the break.

Two minutes into the second period and Bournemouth doubled their lead. Mason Holgate lost his footing as he looked to receive a pass from Begovic, giving Ryan Christie the opportunity to pounce and feed Lowe. The 28-year-old found Cherries captain Stanislas at the back post, who scored his first goal since March last year with an easy tap-in.

Everton manager Lampard responded by bringing on Dwight McNeil, Gray and Alex Iwobi, but it was the hosts who continued to threaten. Begovic did well to prevent Anthony’s low strike from beating him at the near post, before Zemura and Lowe combined well twice in quick succession, but the latter saw his first effort stopped by Begovic and headed his second over the bar.

With just over 20 minutes to go, Everton grabbed a lifeline courtesy of an impressive move involving two substitutes. Iwobi found Neal Maupay, who poked the ball into the path of Gray, and the winger steadied himself before bending a right-footed effort past Travers into the far corner.

Maupay then fired a shot over the bar as Everton went in search of an equaliser, but it was the home side who would score next and restore their two-goal advantage. Cherries substitute Siriki Dembele showed neat play down the left before the move ended with Begovic parrying an effort into the path of Marcondes, who duly slotted home.

Four minutes later it was 4-1 and game over. Everton made another mistake at the back as Nathan Patterson hesitated on the ball and gave Dembele the chance to pounce. The Cherries substitute stayed composed and found Anthony, who took a touch before calmly slotting a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.

The result ended a run of four straight defeats for Bournemouth under interim head coach O’Neil, who has recently been linked with Championship club Luton.

Everton suffer back-to-back losses and have now won just one of their previous seven games in all competitions.

Lampard: Changes didn’t work

Everton manager Frank Lampard said: “We were poor. I made a lot of changes, but the reality of my job is that we want to win every game we play.

“When you go through a season and are not getting many minutes, some players are not happy and want to knock on your door, others want to train well and wait for a chance.

“You have to make the most of your opportunities when you get a chance.

“We treated the game with absolute respect and there was a lot of experience in that side but I learned a lot from the performance, particularly with the manner of the goals we conceded.

“I have to protect players who are playing regularly and we had quite a few players out with knocks. We are going to have a really busy schedule after the World Cup break.

“When players train and ask you to put them in the team and they are paid well by Everton, well come in then and show us what you can do. That was the story of tonight.

“You can only train and repeat but you cannot recreate actual moments that happen in a game, at both ends of the pitch.

“If you make those mistakes repetitively then the answer is simple and that is probably why you don’t play so much.”

O’Neil: I treat every game like it’s my last

Asked if he had taken charge of Bournemouth for the final time, interim head coach Gary O’Neil said: “I treat every game like it might be my last, that is the nature of the interim role.

“It has always been about taking the next game and I am very happy with that. I appreciate that I have had a decent chunk of games to get my teeth into.

“I am delighted with the boys tonight. They put in a hell of a performance against a very good side and we looked like a team.”

Sherwood: Everton should have prioritised cups

Tim Sherwood on Soccer Special:

“The Everton players have got to look at themselves. They’ve probably been knocking on the manager’s door wanting an opportunity to play. He’s given them the chance today albeit with 11 changes. I thought it was an awful amount really and I thought they should prioritise the cups to give their fans something to cheer about.

“I don’t think they’re going to get relegated and they’re not going to finish in the Europa League so you might as well go for the FA Cup or the Carabao Cup. I can understand why Bournemouth have made nine changes as they’re fighting for their lives to stay in the Premier League which is their priority.

“With the squad Everton have, they shouldn’t be worried about relegation. Their squad tells me they will stay up. This doesn’t help as they took a huge travelling support.”

What’s next?

Bournemouth and Everton face each other again at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday in the Premier League as both sides play their final game before the World Cup; kick-off 3pm.