I believe i do remember the article you're talking about, it was just a line in an article saying we ask for it to be played first.
You'd think if that genuinely is the case than either Everton or the FA would of said something official about it rather than it being purely forum guesswork or a line in 1 newspaper article.
Tbh mate they deal with thousands of requests, so i really don't see them answering why they make them that way just to make some forum nerds happy.
I kinda like having it first, and i don't really think it has any bearing on whether we get rolled over or not, form doesn't tend to factor for us.