Capital One Cup - Everton v Norwich City - Tues Oct 27th 8pm

Roberto Martinez is expecting an open Capital One Cup tie against Norwich City on Tuesday night.

The Blues boss has seen enough of the Canaries so far this season to know that despite suffering three straight defeats of late, Alex Neil’s side will be fully intent on reaching the quarter finals at the expense of Everton.

City have adapted well enough to life back in the Premier League, sitting in 16th place with nine points from their first 10 games.

And that will give them plenty of confidence when facing the Toffees at Goodison Park.

“I don’t think they are a team worried about results,” Martinez said. “They have an incredible belief in what they do and that is why they got promoted.

“Norwich are an attacking team, built to score goals and win football matches – but that is similar to ourselves. We can expect a team coming to Goodison, defending well when they have to, but who will attack with numbers and with a lot of pace when they have got the ball.

“So expect an open game, and we will have to be at our very best if we want to be able to get into the draw for the quarter finals.”

With plenty of Premier League opposition left in the competition, Martinez believes this season’s Capital One Cup has been as fiercely contested as it has ever been, but is keen on the Blues progressing as far as they can.

“I don’t think I have seen a League Cup competition as competitive as we have seen this season,” he added. “There are 16 teams left, 13 of those are Premier League sides, and that shows you how competitive it is going to be.

“It shows that it's not a case of managers or clubs taking the Capital One Cup more seriously but that squads are built to be stronger. They are built to be able to have more changes to the starting line-up. That means you can cope with more than one competition.

“As you can imagine, fighting for a trophy, and the League Cup as a competition, is an attraction for any football club.”