Just three days after their stirring victory over much-vaunted Newcastle, Everton are back at Goodison Park for another huge game, this time against big-spending Chelsea.
Were it not for the Premier League’s overly-punitive 10-point deduction, the Toffees would come have come into the weekend sitting a point and a place above the West Londoners in 10th; as it is, they hauled themselves out of the relegation zone with that 3-0 win over the Magpies and are not looking to get themselves further up the table in the coming weeks.
Sean Dyche had to put out a patched-up midfield on Thursday night with Amadou Onana ruled out with a calf injury and James Garner succumbing to illness earlier in the day but the manager is hopeful that both players could at least be in the squad this time.
Onana was rated as touch-and-go for the Newcastle clash but the medical staff erred on the side of caution but Dyche has indicated that there is a chance the Belgian could at least make the squad to face Chelsea.
Garner, meanwhile, will be assessed to see whether or not his stomach flu was “a 24-hour thing” and whether he can keep food down to regain his strength ahead of the match.
Meanwhile, Seamus Coleman will be checked to see whether he can play twice in such a short space of time so soon after returning from a long absence. The skipper came off after 67 minutes on Thursday with what initially appeared to be a knock but he was able to run off the pitch and Dyche assured reporters afterwards that there was no significant problem.
Chelsea could have as many as 10 players ruled out for varying reasons but they have a large squad that can easily absorb a loss of personnel on that scale. Conor Gallagher serves a one-match suspension for picking up two yellow cards against Brighton last weekend and Christopher Nkunku is unlikely to feature but Rameo Lavia and Malo Gusto will be given late fitness tests. Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, Trevor Chalobah, Lesley Ugochukwu and Carney Chukuwuemeka, and Chukwunonso Madueke are all out until the New Year.
After making a disappointing start by their standards with just one Premier League win to their name until they won at Fulham at the start of October and struggled for consistency since, Mauricio Pochettino’s side have been showing of late signs that the Argentine is starting to get his arms around the job he took over the summer.
They thrashed Tottenham 4-1 in North London last month, albeit with the help of two red cards for Spurs, held Manchester City to a 4-4 draw at home and overcame Brighton at Stamford Bridge despite playing the second half with 10 men but Everton will take heart from their last two away games where they lost 4-1 at St James’s Park and 2-1 at Old Trafford in midweek.
Manchester United’s ability to force mistakes from Chelsea’s defence with a dogged press bodes well, as, of course, does the Blues’ recent attacking form which has seen them register an average of 19 shots in their last three matches.
Everton have found this to be a profitable fixture in recent years, winning it four seasons in a row before losing narrowly on the opening day last season under Frank Lampard, and the Goodison faithful will be hoping their team can carry forward the momentum from successive wins over Forest and Newcastle and resume the trend of victories over Chelsea.
Kick-off: 2pm, Sunday 10 December, 2023
Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Last Time: Everton 0 – 1 Chelsea
Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner, Harrison, McNeil, Doucouré, Calvert-Lewin