Team
news, stats and prediction ahead of Chelsea vs Everton in the Premier League
on Monday (kick-off 6pm).
Team news
Thiago Silva could be fit to return for Chelsea. The Brazil defender
returned to light training last week after a thigh complaint and might be
ready.
Thomas Tuchel could rotate his resources following Thursday's 1-0 win over
Liverpool at Anfield.
Playmaker James Rodriguez remains a doubt for Everton. The Colombia
international has missed the last two matches with a calf problem and he may
not be ready to return.
Midfielder Tom Davies and defender Seamus Coleman have also sat out the last
two and need to be assessed, while centre-back Yerry Mina and midfielder
Fabian Delph are still sidelined.
Jones Knows prediction
Here we have a battle of the two transformers. Thomas Tuchel meets Carlo
Ancelotti. Both men have had massive impacts.
As my colleague Adam Bate writes here, "those who bemoaned the decision to
sack Frank Lampard said all he needed was time. Thomas Tuchel required only
one day to make a difference to Chelsea's style of play." Lampard rarely
found the right balance. But Tuchel has nailed it, culminating in 1-0 wins
over Atletico Madrid and Liverpool away from home. Granted, it's not a style
to get pulses racing but it puts clean sheets and points on the table.
Carlo Ancelotti is doing majestic, almost magical, work at Everton. He has
turned the timid Toffees into ruthless winners who excel in terms of
conversion rate in attack and big chances conceded in defence. When
assessing the performance data, Everton should be meandering around midtable
on the numbers they've produced. Quite staggeringly, Everton have not won
the shots count in all of their matches since drawing with Burnley on
December 5. That's a 15-game run.
Yet, here they are, in the European hunt. It's a masterstroke by Ancelotti.
This will probably be a step too far for his side as it's difficult to see
how the Toffees will get enough ball to push Chelsea back - but the prices
are spot on.
A price which is wrong is the chances of Richarlison being caught offside
twice at 5/1 with Sky Bet.
Since switching to play centre-forward, the Brazilian has been caught
offside twice four times in his last five appearances as he likes to make
his moves in behind. The 5/1 looks generous.
JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 1-0
Opta stats
Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 25 Premier League home games against
Everton (W14 D11). Only against Spurs have the Blues had a longer unbeaten
home run in top-flight history (27 between 1990-2016).
Only against Leeds (35 between 1946-2001) have Everton had a longer winless
away run in the top-flight than they have at Chelsea, with the Toffees
winless in 25 visits to Stamford Bridge since a 1-0 win in November 1994.
Chelsea have lost three of their last four Premier League meetings with
Everton (W1), as many as they had in their previous 15 against them in the
competition (W9 D3).
Everton are looking to complete their first league double over Chelsea since
the 1978-79 campaign, when the Blues finished bottom of the top-flight with
just five wins from 42 games.
Chelsea have won 10 of their last 14 Premier League games played on Mondays
(D2 L2) and are unbeaten in their four such games this season (W3 D1).
Everton have won their last two Monday top-flight games, last winning three
in a row between April 1989 - April 1991 (a run of five). They beat
Southampton 1-0 last Monday, last winning league games on consecutive
Mondays in 2016-17 (Dec 26th and Jan 2nd).
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel could become the first manager in Premier League
history to see his side keep a clean sheet in each of his first five home
games in charge in the competition. Meanwhile, the Blues are looking to keep
five consecutive home league clean sheets for the first time since January
2015.
Everton's Gylfi Sigurdsson has scored more Premier League goals against
Chelsea than he has vs any other side in the competition (6). However, just
one of these six goals has come at Stamford Bridge (May 2013 with
Tottenham).
Chelsea's Édouard Mendy has kept six clean sheets in his first 10 home
Premier League starts, the most by a goalkeeper in their first 10 home
starts since Alisson kept seven for Liverpool at Anfield in 2018. The only
Chelsea goalkeeper with more Premier League clean sheets in their first 10
starts at Stamford Bridge is Petr Cech (8).
Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti is looking to become the first manager in the
Premier League era to win away at Stamford Bridge after having managed
Chelsea in the competition (P18 D6 L12). He could be the first manager since
Dave Sexton in 1974-75 with QPR to complete a top-flight double over the
Blues after leaving the club.
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