Everton vs Chelsea: Inconsistent Blues seek win to get season back on track against relegation-threatened Toffees – kick-off time, team news and how t
08/12/2023 16:17
Everton welcome Chelsea to Goodison Park this weekend as the Toffees look to continue their push up the table and away from the danger zone.
Sean Dyche‘s men were plunged into the bottom three after they were deducted ten points by the Premier League and are now facing a battle to stay in the division.
Despite this, Everton are actually enjoying a decent season, winning plenty of games and playing some good stuff, so this will be a tough game for Chelsea.
Mauricio Pochettino‘s men are enduring an inconsistent campaign.
In their last three leagues games, they’ve lost to Newcastle and Manchester United but beaten Brighton, so they need to find some consistency from somewhere.
Everton vs Chelsea: Baffling Mudryk
Mykhailo Mudryk started the 2-1 defeat to United and produced some moments of genius mixed with some horrible decisions.
The winger is nearly a year into life at Stamford Bridge, but he still appears very raw.
There are times when he displays slick control and also seems to pick the right pass.
His assist for Cole Palmer was the perfect example of this, as he brilliantly turned and slid a pass through for Palmer, who took a couple of touches before finding the net.
But there were plenty of other opportunities in the first half that broke down through Mudryk’s poor play or weak finishing.
The brief flashes make you believe there is a player in Mudryk, but he’s taking some time to emerge.
- Everton have won four of their last five home Premier League matches against Chelsea, although they did lose 1-0 last season on the opening day under Frank Lampard.
- Chelsea are looking to win consecutive away Premier League games against Everton for the first time since beating the Toffees at Goodison Park in 2006-07 (3-2 under Jose Mourinho) and 2007-08 (1-0 under Avram Grant).
- London sides have won their last three Premier League away games against Everton – the Toffees haven't lost four in a row at Goodison Park against sides from the capital since April 1993.
Everton vs Chelsea: Team news
The Toffees don’t have too many concerns but Dele Alli won’t feature, as he is still recovering from a long-term groin issue.
Meanwhile, Amadou Onana and Andre Gomes are touch and go.
The Blues will hope that Christopher Nkunku and Romeo Lavia can finally make their debuts.
The duo have been in first-team training for a couple of weeks now and are edging closer to featuring.
But there are still loads of problems.
Wesley Fofana, Malo Gusto, Ben Chilwell, Lesly Ugochukwu, Noni Madueke and Carney Chukwuemeka are all likely to miss out.
- Everton have lost 104 of their 246 Premier League games played on Sunday – in the competition's history, only Tottenham (105/336) have lost more Sunday games than the Toffees.
- Chelsea have only won one of their last eight Premier League away games played on a Sunday (D2 L5), beating Aston Villa 2-0 in October last season.
- Chelsea have conceded 24 goals in their 15 Premier League games this season, their joint most at this stage of a season, along with in 2015-16. The 194 shots they have faced is their most after 15 games in a season that Opta has on record (since 2003-04).
Everton vs Chelsea: What has been said?
Chelsea boss Pochettino was disappointed in his side’s energy levels in the defeat at Old Trafford.
He said: “I am disappointed because we didn't start the game well.
“The feeling is that they started better than us, showing more energy than us. We couldn't match the energy. I think they were better than us and there's nothing I can say.
“We created enough chances to get something from the game. We drew the first half, and at 1-1, had some good chances and should have scored and been more clinical, that was the problem.
“The second half we started well, but then we conceded, and again, I think we missed a little bit the energy to be more aggressive. We had some chances but not enough to get back in the game again. But, overall, my feeling is that they were better than us and deserved the three points.”
- Chelsea have lost 17 Premier League games in 2023, more than they did in 2021 and 2022 combined (16). It's their most league defeats in a single year since losing 20 in 1993; indeed, between 2001 and 2022, the Blues only reached double figures for defeats in two years, losing 11 in 2015 and 12 in 2019.
- Only against Crystal Palace (11) and Swansea (8) has Chelsea's Mauricio Pochettino won more Premier League games than he has against Everton (7). The Argentine is unbeaten in his last 12 league games against the Toffees (W7 D5) since a 1-2 defeat at Goodison Park with Southampton in December 2013.
- Everton manager Sean Dyche has lost his last five home Premier League games against Chelsea, all as Burnley manager. The only managers to lose six in a row at home against an opponent in the competition are Eddie Howe against both Liverpool and Man City and Steve Bruce against Chelsea (Roy Hodgson could also lose a sixth in a row v Liverpool this weekend).
Everton vs Chelsea: How to follow
This Premier League game will take place on Sunday, December 3.
Kick-off at Anfield is scheduled for 2pm.
Unfortunately, this fixture will not be televised on UK screens as it wasn’t picked by Sky Sports for live coverage.
However, highlights will be available on the Sky Sports website and app shortly after the end of the match and then later on Match of the Day 2.
Updates will also be live on talkSPORT throughout the afternoon and talkSPORT.com will have a live blog to take you through the action.
