Chelsea: Sanchez, Caicedo, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, Lavia, Enzo, Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson.
Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Badiashile, Tosin, James, Dewsbury-Corridor, George, Sancho, Nkunku.
Everton: Pickford, Patterson, O’Brien, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gana, Garner, Doucoure, Harrison, Ndiaye, Beto.
Subs: Virginia, Begovic, Keane, McNeil, Chermiti, Younger, Coleman, Alcaraz, Iroegbunam.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire).
Chelsea have performed 49 matches in all competitions this season and simply two have ended goalless. The primary was towards Everton three days earlier than Christmas, a end result which ended an eight-game successful streak and sparked a decline in fortunes. Enzo Maresca’s facet misplaced their subsequent two matches. In reality, that Everton stalemate could be a turning level from which they’ve by no means actually recovered. Chelsea nonetheless have hopes of a top-five end and a Champions League spot subsequent season however it’s completely within the stability. With Liverpool and Arsenal taking on two locations, it’s now a five-horse race for the remaining three between Man Metropolis (61pts), Nottingham Forest (60), Newcastle (59), Chelsea (57) and Aston Villa (57). Chelsea, Forest and Newcastle have a recreation in hand following Man Metropolis’s dramatic 2-1 in win over Villa in midweek.
For Everton, the David Moyes new supervisor bounce has gone quite flat. The returning hero led his facet to a flurry of factors to right away rule out any fears of relegation however a present thermometer test reveals only one league win in eight. A kinder take is that they’ve drawn 5 of these video games and the one defeats had been to Liverpool and Manchester Metropolis.
If all that means Everton may simply nick one other level right here, the final assembly between the pair at Stamford Bridge doesn’t. Rewind to April 2024 and Chelsea thrashed the Toffees 6-0, a younger chap known as Cole Palmer ending with 4 objectives after finishing a hat-trick inside half-hour.
With every thing just about rubber-stamped on the prime and backside of the desk, the battle for European spots is the place it’s at now. Let’s get this factor on! Kick-off is at 12.30pm.
