4 players who could miss Everton's Carabao Cup clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers

Everton’s quest to end their long trophy drought continues when they face Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup third round at Molineux on Tuesday.

The Toffees have not won a major trophy for 30 years and it’s a wait that supporters are desperate to see ended. While climbing the Premier League table is the priority for David Moyes’ side, they will have ambitions of glory in the competition and beat League One outfit Mansfield 2-0 in the previous round.

Everton head into the encounter after a narrow 2-1 defeat by Liverpool in the Merseyside derby at Anfield. The Blues will take plenty of encouragement from their second-half performance, though, and now prepare to travel to Wolves for a second time this campaign. Moyes’ troops earned a 3-2 win in the Premier League last month.

The home side have endured a wretched start to the 2025-26 campaign, having lost all five league games so far but knocked West Ham United out of the Carabao Cup in the previous round.

Ahead of the tie, here’s a look at the team news for both sides.

Wolves team news

Enso Gonzalez - out

The winger has been absent for more than a year after rupturing his ACL while representing Paraguay at the 2024 Olympics.

Leon Chiwome - out

The young striker is also on the comeback trail from an ACL injury.

Everton team news

Jarrad Branthwaite - out

Everton's prized asset is getting closer to recovering from a hamstring injury. However, Branthwaite was not spotted in training last week and that is a sign that he's still unavailable to feature in a match-day squad.

Merlin Rohl - doubt

This game might have been earmarked as a potential full debut for the summer signing from SC Freiburg. Rohl caught the eye when coming off the bench in a 0-0 draw against Aston Villa. Moyes admitted that Rohl had a problem in his groin/ hip that ruled him out of the Liverpool clash. Much will depend on how the former Germany under-21 international recovers from his issue.

Tarkowski eyes glory

Not only have Everton not lifted a trophy since 1995 when beating Manchester United in the FA Cup final, they have never won the League Cup.

But after watching Newcastle United beat Liverpool in last year’s final at Wembley, as well as Crystal Palace earning FA Cup glory when defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, Toffees defender James Tarkowski is hoping Everton can go all of the way.

Speaking to the club’s website, Tarkowski said: "It's massive for us and we're looking forward to it. There's definitely an emphasis on us doing well in the cups this year – this is the first one that comes around and after winning in the second round, we want to go again.

"I think we all saw Crystal Palace and Newcastle last season – teams outside of those 'top' ones winning trophies and there's no reason why we can't do that. There's an emphasis on us as a club and as a team to go and win a trophy. Every season there is always an emphasis to do well in the cups but there is definitely a feeling amongst the players and staff to give it everything and win something. We want to enjoy that.

"We've got a good squad now, a bigger squad than we've had in previous seasons, with some lads who need some minutes as well. I'm sure it'll be a strong team out there on Tuesday night.”