Chelsea v Everton Free Tips & Match Preview

When Chelsea and Everton meet on Saturday, November 5, at Stamford Bridge, it will be a contest between two very dynamic strikers, Diego Garcia and Romelu Lukaku. The 8 and 7 goals they have respectively scored have been instrumental in bringing about vastly improved performances in both Chelsea and Everton compared to their previous seasons. The change of tactics by coach, Antonio Conte, post the Blues’ defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal have worked wonders for the team.

Since then, Chelsea have not conceded once in their 4 games and struck on 11 occasions. The back and middle ranks comprising of Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill, Moses, Kante and Matic which not very long was the club’s Achilles heel are now the bastions of strength which oppositions have found hard to penetrate.  The 4-0 trouncing of Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United was an announcement of sorts that the Blues are very much in the title race.

Everton, on the other hand, coming out of a 2-0 win against West Ham could consider themselves lucky because of some very crucial opportunities the Hammers missed. While the likes Yannick Bolasie, Ross Barkley and Lukaku could be very quick on the counter, the defensive quartet of Seamus Coleman, Ashley Williams, Bryan Oviedo and Funes Mori that was so effective in bottling up Manchester City and Tottenham earlier in the season, could come under great stress in the face of the blinding speed and creativeness generated upfront by Eden Hazard, Costa and Willian. Like Tottenham, Everton have been low on scoring (just 15 goals from their 10 EPL outings compared to Chelsea’s 21). They have conceded one less than the Blues, but when it comes to scoring goals they rely heavily on the Romelu Lukaku. It will call for someone with the creativity of the brilliant Belgian to get past the defensive strategem that Conte has devised.

A head to head comparison of the last 10 meetings since 2011 between these two, reveals statistics that are skewered slightly in favour of Chelsea. The Blues have won six of them, lost three and drawn one. Interestingly, Chelsea haven’t been able to score wins in the previous three meetings with the Toffees, having lost two and drawn one. But then, those were were the dark days of the 2015-16 season under Jose Mourinho and is surely a thing of the past as is evident from Chelsea’s current form. Bookmakers expect the hosts to prevail at Stamford Bridge on November 5, Sunday and the odds very much point to that.

For Chelsea a win would mean that they will be firmly entrenched in the Top Four of the EPL table.

Recommended Tip, Chelsea to win

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