Everton vs. Chelsea Preview

Barclays Premier League

Football
Published: 06/02/2012

Everton have a sound recent record of causing problems for Chelsea at Goodison Park and they will be fixed on continuing that trend when the two sides meet in the Barclays Premier League on February 11.

Sitting rather unnoticed in eleventh place, Everton’s season already seems to be reaching the phase of going through the motions; with league status almost certainly maintained yet the prospect of European qualification an unrealistic aim thanks to an indifferent first half to the campaign.

The Toffees fans have nevertheless been treated to the capture of prolific Croatian hitman Nikola Jelavic who arrived for a £4million transfer fee in January after impressing a whole host of clubs whilst playing for Rangers.

Jelavic’s signature has, for the first time in a while, signalled some degree of ambition from the Everton board, which has primarily kept focus on keeping the club competitive on a low budget during recent years as rival clubs break the bank in search of silverware and the best players in the business. Jelavic may well be a sign of good things to come from Everton who have, to their credit, performed reasonably well considering the degree of financial constraint that boss David Moyes has had to work under.

By contrast, as many football fans and punters know, Chelsea have been fortunate enough to splash the cash on numerous occasions over the past decade and plunge a heavy amount of investment into their squad which has been in search of both domestic and European honours.

The power gap between the two clubs has hardly been noticed when Chelsea have travelled to Goodison however - and Moyes definitely appears to know how to handle the Blues.

Although Chelsea came out on top when the two teams last met on Merseyside in the League Cup, Everton are unbeaten in their last four Premier League fixtures against Chelsea at home and with a similar line up expected to that which overcame their illustrious opponents 1-0 at the end of the 2010/2011 season, another good day for the hosts could be on the cards.

Their cause could also be made slightly easier by the fact that Chelsea have seemingly still to find their feet on the road, with recent draws against promoted sides Norwich and Swansea hardly doing much to inspire the Blues faithful who are becoming increasingly restless with the club’s league position and the overall performance of Andre Villas Boas.

It may well be a positive sign that Chelsea have gone six games unbeaten whilst playing relatively poorly, nevertheless with a proven recent track record behind them, Everton can expose Chelsea’s lack of quality and leave them stranded yet further behind in a title race which they should have been in the thick of.

14/5 is about the best on offer for Everton and although many people may not see that price as sheer value, the bookmakers do at least validate the fact that Chelsea are not as strong as they were before AVB and Everton are capable of beating anyone on their day.

Everton will need to have new boy Jelavic firing if they are to break down Chelsea’s recently improved defence – but with the likes of Landon Donovan and Tim Cahill also in support, the visitors look poised to endure a difficult afternoon against a shackle free Everton outfit which needs to start giving their home supporters something to really cheer about.

Go To bet365
#Ad


Any odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of publishing (06/02/2012) but are subject to change.

06/02/2012     © Frixo 2024

Comment on this preview
Your Name:
Your Email:
What is  + 7
Commment: