Everton have departed for Australia as Frank Lampard leads his side into the Sydney Super Cup.
The Blues will face Celtic and Western Sydney Wanderers in a double header down under, the tour providing a useful opportunity to work on the squad away from the spotlight of the Premier League. Everton flew out on Tuesday and are expected to stay in Australia until a week on Thursday.
The full squad list has not yet been revealed but Lampard will be without Jordan Pickford, Amadou Onana, Idrissa Gueye and Conor Coady - all of whom are heading to Qatar for the World Cup. Other stars, including Alex Iwobi and Seamus Coleman, have been called up for international friendlies this week.
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With a number of senior players on international duty, the tournament is expected to provide another opportunity for some of the club's Under-21s to show what they can do. Lewis Warrington, Stanley Mills and Reece Welch all impressed when given chances in the summer pre-season tour of the USA. Social media posts show Tom Cannon, Joe Anderson, Isaac Price, Sebastian Quirk are among the starlets making the trip. Pictures also show Ruben Vinagre, Mason Holgate, Michael Keane and Andy Lonergan are on the plane. The tournament will also offer the potential for Lampard to work with both senior squad players and those on the fringe of the matchday squad as he attempts to lay the foundations for improvements when the Premier League returns on Boxing Day.
Everton will first turn out against Celtic at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Sunday (kick-off 3:45am GMT). They will then face Western Sydney Wanderers the following Wednesday at the city's CommBank Stadium (kick-off 8:45am GMT). The ECHO will be reporting from Australia and so have coverage and analysis of both matches and other club events during the tour, including activities run by the Everton Supporters' Club Australia (ESCA).
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