Hello, and welcome to Sports Mole's live coverage of the match between Young Boys and Everton in the last 32 of the Europa League.

It's been over two months since the last ball was kicked in the group stages of the Europa League but finally, we are back to resume the competition as the knockout stages get underway across the continent on Thursday evening.

Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic are all to come later tonight, but first, it's the turn of Everton to feature in the first leg of their last-32 tie with Swiss side Young Boys. Many will have Everton as the clear favourites to progress, but as they showed before Christmas, Young Boys are a solid European outfit who are capable to matching the best teams.

Before he continue the buildup to the game in Switzerland, let's takes a look at both sides.

YOUNG BOYS XI: Mvogo; Hadergjonaj, Vilotic, Von Bergen, Lecjaks; Steffen, Gajic; Nuzzolo, Sanogo Junior, Kubo; Hoarau

YOUNG BOYS SUBSTITUTES: Wolfli, Bertone, Gerndt, Sulejmanov, Rochat, Sutter, Burki

EVERTON XI: Howard; Coleman, Jagielka, Stones, Oviedo; McCarthy, Barry; Mirallas, Barkley, Naismith; Lukaku

EVERTON SUBSTITUTES: Robles, Besic, Gibson, Atsu, Garbutt, Alcaraz, Duffus

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has made two changes to the side that lost at Chelsea eight days ago. James McCarthy and Kevin Mirallas have both been included at the expense of Muhamed Besic and the cup-tied Aaron Lennon. As for Young Boys, Yvon Mvogo takes the place of David von Ballmoos in goal.

As I have mentioned in the introduction, in sharp contrast to their league form, Everton have been superb in Europe this season. The Toffees recorded seven points from three fixtures away at Wolfsburg, Lille and FC Krasnodar while their other four points came before matchday six where they could afford to make sweeping changes to their starting lineup. It's been argued that the competition has been a distraction to the Merseyside club but some positive results over the next few weeks may act as a catalyst for an improvement in their league form.

As for Young Boys, they finished a close second to Napoli in their group, which is a respectable achievement for a club of their size. They also recorded a 2-0 victory over Napoli at the Stade de Suisse, and it's that result that will ensure that Everton aren't complacent tonight.

PREDICTION! Everton's previous European matches on the road this season have included four goals in three games, and it would come as a surprise if it's not equally tight this evening. Expect Young Boys to attempt to force the pace in front of their own fans but Everton will always be a threat and if they can come away with a draw and an away goal, Roberto Martinez will consider that a positive return. 1-1.

One factor that might be an equaliser of sorts tonight is the artificial pitch at the Stade de Suisse. Young Boys are obviously more accustomed to the surface and it will be interesting to see how well Everton adapt to the conditions.

The two teams have made their way onto the pitch in Switzerland. One of Everton's mascots looks about 18. Anyway, we will be underway in a couple of minutes.

Everton get the game started.

SAVE! Everton have started superbly. After a prolonged spell of possession, Bryan Oviedo delivered a cross in from the left for Romelu Lukaku to head on goal from 12 yards, only to see Yvon Mvogo tip the ball wide for a corner.

WOODWORK! My word, that was close. Oviedo attempted to send another cross into the middle for Lukaku but he failed to get any whip on his pass and the ball struck the outside of the post and went wide. Mvogo was beaten.

Everton are definitely showing a preference to create space for Oviedo to cross from the left. He sends another threatening ball towards Lukaku but the Belgian attacker is offside.

Everton may have made all the running in this game, but it's Young Boys who have taken the lead in Switzerland. It's a cracking strike too. The ball was worked to striker Guillaume Hoarau on the edge of the penalty area and after setting himself up, the Frenchman curled the ball into the bottom corner from around 22 yards. Tim Howard had no chance.

That's a big blow for the Toffees, but they shouldn't be discouraged. They have been by far the better side, but they've been outdone by a moment of brilliance from the former Paris Saint-German attacker. That was Hoarau's 12th of the season.

SAVES! Yvon Mvogo looks some goalkeeper! The Swiss Under-21 stopper has just made two excellent saves to deny Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley, both low down to his right. Lukaku's strike came from 20 yards after holding off the attentions of a defender but Barkley's shot was from no more than 10 yards.

Despite the heroics from the goalkeeper, Young Boys look wide open in defence. Surely it won't be long before Everton get a return from their dominance in the final third?

Everton win a free kick around 30 yards from goal, but Ross Barkley's speculative effort is deflected wide for a corner. The Toffees almost make something from the set piece but John Stones's header is cleared for a throw in.

It was coming, especially by the route in which the goal was scored. A cross from the left, this time from Gareth Barry, was headed powerfully into the bottom corner by Romelu Lukaku from 12 yards after he got ahead of his marker. They deserve that.

Everton score their second inside four minutes! Steven Naismith looked fractionally offside during the buildup but it's a terrific goal that saw the Scottish attacker drill a cross across goal for Seamus Coleman to slide in at the back post to fire home from no more than a yard. Everton can put the tie to bed in this first half and that's not exaggerating.

SHOT! Everton win a free kick from around 30 yards out but Kevin Mirallas's shot is never threatening the goal. That looked perfect for the left foot of Romelu Lukaku, but his Belgian compatriot pulled rank.

SAVE! Despite Everton's dominance, Tim Howard has just pulled off a blinding save to deny Guillaume Hoarau! The Frenchman's left-footed volley from 18 yards was saved by Howard's left hand before Phil Jagielka did enough to stop the rebound finding the back of the net. What a game!

Everton are having to do some defending now. Young Boys are attacking both flanks before targeting Guillaume Hoarau, who is 6ft 4ins, inside the penalty area. A foul and a booking for Steven Naismith has seen them earn a free kick in a threatening position.

CHANCE! Guillaume Hoarau looks such a threat on the ground and in the air and he comes agonisingly close to finding an equaliser after his glancing header from 12 yards misses the near post by inches.

Everton are in dreamland in Switzerland. It's another superbly-worked goal, but again, there was a touch of offside about it. Bryan Oviedo and Gareth Barry combined on the left-hand side before Barry's deflected cross found Lukaku at the back post, who prodded home from exactly the same position as Seamus Coleman.

And here was me predicting a tight match...

WOODWORK! How on earth has that stayed out?! A Young Boys free kick was only headed out to the feet of Sekou Sanogo, who saw a thunderous 12-yard volley strike the post and bounce clear. Everton were incredibly fortunate there.

In fact, an Everton defender cleared the ball off the line and onto the post! Unbelievable clearance.

The half-time whistle goes in Switzerland and a quite unbelievable 45 minutes of football ends with Everton leading 3-1. I say unbelievable because the score could have easily reached 4-4. Everton have been excellent in attack as well as defence but Young Boys, and star striker Guillaume Hoarau, look a huge threat when the ball gets into the Toffees' final third.

From 16 shots on goal, 11 have been on target. It's not very often that you see that. Everton are dominating the corner and possession count, and they will know that they will have their opportunities to extend their advantage in the second half. It just depends on how Roberto Martinez decides to approach the remainder of the game. He would be ecstatic if the score remained the same, but there are more goals in this for his team.

The two teams are making their way back out onto the pitch at the Stade de Suisse. There doesn't appear to be any changes for either side.

Young Boys get the game back underway.

Tim Howard needs to be alert to tip a wayward cross over his crossbar. It's been one of those games where you wouldn't be surprised to see that kind of effort creep in.

BOOKING! Ross Barkley is a lucky boy in more ways than one. The midfielder had just won a foul before Sekou Sanogo kicked the ball away with his head next to the ball. The England international was rightly furious, but he's lucky to avoid a red card after pushing his opponent in the back. It's petulance more than anything else but players have been sent off for worse.

CHANCE! A cross from the left (again) causes problems for the Young Boys defence, resulting in the ball falling at the feet of Kevin Mirallas. The winger takes one touch to compose himself but he drags his volley well wide of the near post.

Bryan Oviedo looks like he is going to have to be replaced after picking up an injury when trying to shield the ball away from Renato Steffen. It's unclear what he has done, but Luke Garbutt is coming on to replace the Costa Rican.

Clinical. After an injury to James McCarthy, Young Boys expected the ball to be played out within seconds of the incident but Everton continued and after Ross Barkley played in Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker kept his composure before clipping the ball over the goalkeeper from 12 yards. It's a terrific goal and Young Boys need four goals during the remainder of this tie to deny Everton from progressing to the last 16.

RED CARD! After committing a mistake, John Stones attempts to track back to reclaim the ball but he pulls down Guillaume Hoarau and is dismissed by the referee. That was needless to say the least.

MISSED PENALTY! Wow. Guillaume Hoarau steps up and fires the spot kick a couple of yards over the crossbar! Massive let-off for the Toffees but they are at a man disadvantage now.

Steven Naismith needs to watch himself too. He's just dived into a challenge, again, needlessly, and he's fortunate to avoid conceding a foul and receiving a second yellow.

CHANCE! Wow. Romelu Lukaku should have his fourth of the night! Luke Garbutt delivers the perfect ball into the six-yard box but Lukaku miscues his effort and it rolls wide of the post. That would have put the tie to bed.

That's incredibly greedy from Ross Barkley. Despite having a man less, Everton storm forward in numbers but the England international opted to cut inside on his right foot before seeing his shot easily blocked.

Roberto Martinez has thrown on Antolin Alcaraz in place of James McCarthy. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the injury he picked up earlier, but nevertheless, Everton needed an extra defender on the pitch.

It's all Young Boys now, and Everton are choosing to drop deeper and deeper into their own final third. It's understandable at this stage. Even a 4-2 victory would be seen as a tie-winning result.

Remarkably, Everton are still pushing for a fifth! I can't imagine that Roberto Martinez is too happy with gaps being left open in their own defence. They got themselves into a three-on-three situation but the final pass was poor.

CHANCE! A neat move from the Toffees ends with the ball being half-cleared to Ross Barkley, but despite having time and space, the midfielder opted to shoot on goal, with his left-footed strike going three yards over the bar.

Steven Naismith is down with a knock now. The injuries are totting up for Roberto Martinez. The Scot may be coming off for Christian Atsu, who has been warming up on the touchline for the past couple of minutes.

CHANCE! Romelu Lukaku may have netted a hat-trick tonight but he should have at least five goals to his name. The forward has all the time in the world after being played through on goal by Gareth Barry but Yvon Mvogo produces a stunning one-handed stop to keep the score at 4-1.

SUBSTITUTION! That's the last that we are going to see from Lukaku. He has been replaced by Atsu, so Naismith is going to complete the 90 minutes.

Atsu fails to spot the late run of Naismith on the halfway line, but he does superbly to draw the foul and waste a bit of time. Not long to go for Everton now.

There will be three minutes of added-on time.

A period of keep-ball from Everton ends with a Seamus Coleman cross almost finding Atsu, but the defender does well to get the ball back to the goalkeeper.

The full-time whistle goes in Switzerland and Everton have one foot in the last 16 of the Europa League after a terrific 4-1 victory at Young Boys. They rode their luck at times, but after a hat-trick from Romelu Lukaku and one from Seamus Coleman, they should feature in the next round in March.

That will be all from Sports Mole's coverage of this game but we hope that you can still around for our commentaries involving Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic, all of which can be located by clicking here. Goodbye for now