Date: Saturday 26th
April 2025
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Kick-off: 12:30 BST
Today’s early kick-off sees us play host to an
improved Everton side back under Moyes’ management.
Chelsea are unbeaten in their previous 29
home league meetings with Everton and Moyes is without a win in 19 Premier
League visits – although he hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting the current
Chelsea manager.
We come into today’s game off the back of
a late win against Fulham last weekend. Our late showing brought a couple of
goals which were both good and also both very welcome but let’s not skirt over
the game itself, because we were pretty awful again for most of it. We needed
to get our act together a while ago to stand any chance of a top five finish
because our run-in offers little hope of us getting back into it now.
Everton took a point
off us in the reverse fixture, with a far too familiar draw against them and we
might have battered them at Stamford Bridge last season, but Maresca couldn’t beat
an egg. Still, the good news is Maresca has a touchline ban for this one, it’s
just a shame it’s only for one game.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into
today’s game, Enzo Maresca says “To say that this season has been already a
good season compared to the last two does not mean we are not trying to finish
top five. It is our target. Since March, we start to say our target is
Champions League. The team has always been there, so why not? Now we are behind
but we are going to try and finish in the right way. In terms of results, we
have the obligation to bring this club to where it belongs. The results have
been there. But the good thing is me as a manager, the club, we all have
ambition of where we want to go and we are in the right direction. Hopefully we
can be there very soon.
I think
the fans thought Chelsea were back some time ago and now probably because we
are not winning the same amount of games as the beginning, they are showing
they are not happy. We need to accept now they are not happy. The players are
working hard every day to bring this club to where it needs to be. The journey
is just starting.
I was at
West Ham before [Moyes] joined so I had the chance to speak to him a few times.
He is another manager in England that can be considered a legend for the good
things he has done in football.”
Everton
manager, David Moyes, meanwhile, says “The players have done such a good
job, they got the job done early, and we’ve got ourselves in a pretty strong
position. The [past] games were tough but we expected them to be tough and the
results have given us a feeling of comfort to not have that pressure of
relegation.
We’ve
got a really tough game against Chelsea. Their home record is good and we don’t
have a good record of going to Stamford Bridge over the years either, but the
way we have conducted ourselves against Man City, Liverpool, and Arsenal, I’m
going there with real confidence and the belief that we can go and try to make
something happen again.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Chelsea, Marc Guiu (hamstring), Omari Kellyman
(hamstring) and Wesley Fofana (hamstring) are injured, and are joined by Malo
Gusto (muscular). Mykhaylo Mudryk (suspended) also remains out.
For Everton, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and James
Tarkowski (hamstring) are injured, whilst Armando Broja is ineligible to play
against us.
TEAMS
CHELSEA
(Possible line-up): Sanchez;
James, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Enzo, Caicedo; George, Palmer, Neto;
Jackson
EVERTON (Possible
line-up): Pickford;
Patterson, O’Brien, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Harrison, Gueye, Garner, Doucoure,
Ndiaye; Beto
LAST SEASON
Chelsea 6-0 Everton (15th
April 2024)
CURRENT FORM (PL)
Chelsea: WLWDDW
EVERTON: DDLDWL
OTHER STUFF
- Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 29 Premier League home games
against Everton (pre-Maresca).
- Everton’s 6-0 defeat last season is their biggest margin of defeat
in this fixture since 1948.
- Chelsea are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games.
- Everton have lost two of their last four games.
- Everton have only won one of their last eight league games.
- Everton have drawn a league-high 14 games this season.
- Only the bottom three clubs have won fewer than Everton’s eight games
in this campaign.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Chelsea 1-0 Everton
