2 weeks ago
14 Chelsea travel to Everton tonight looking to go top of the Premier League table.
With Tottenham and Liverpool playing on Sunday, Frank Lampard’s Blues will go to the summit of the top-flight with three points on Merseyside.
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea can go top of the table if they beat EvertonGetty Images
Chelsea saw off Leeds last weekend and have only lost once all season.
Everton, meanwhile, have struggled in recent weeks despite their flying start to the season.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees drew at Burnley last time out and will want to return to winning ways.
Everton v Chelsea: How to listen
This match will get under way at 8pm on Saturday, December 12.
Full coverage from Goodison Park will be live on talkSPORT, with our coverage starting at 7pm.
Faye Carruthers will be your host before commentary from Joe Shennan and Danny Mills.
To tune in, click the radio player below or HERE for the live stream.
Here are the other ways to listen…
App iPhone – Download from the Apple store
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Radio – talkSPORT is available across the United Kingdom via DAB digital radio and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
TV – Listen to talkSPORT through your TV on the following channels: Sky: Channel 0108 Virgin Media: Channel 927 Freeview: Channel 723 Freesat: Channel 731
Everton v Chelsea: Team news
Everton star James Rodriguez is out having failed to overcome a slight problem in suffered again Burnley.
Toffees captain Seamus Coleman is yet to recover from a recurring hamstring issue and is also absent.
Fabian Delph has also been ruled out with a similar problem while Lucas Digne and Jean-Philippe Gbamin are long term absentees.
Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic misses out for Chelsea again as he continues to battle hamstring issues, while Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi are also out.
Olivier Giroud starts again as he looks to score in his seventh consecutive game, while Billy Gilmour is on the bench having made his injury comeback in Europe in midweek.
Everton: Pickford, Holgate, Mina, Keane, Godfrey, Doucoure, Allan, Sigurdsson, Iwobi, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison. Subs: Kenny, Tosun, Bernard, Andre Gomes, Gordon, Davies, Olsen.
Chelsea: Mendy, James, Zouma, Thiago Silva, Chilwell, Kante, Kovacic, Havertz, Mount, Werner, Giroud. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Rudiger, Jorginho, Abraham, Gilmour, Azpilicueta, Anjorin.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton have struggled in recent weeks following their flying start to the seasonGetty Images - Getty
Everton v Chelsea: Match stats and facts
Everton have won their last two Premier League home games against Chelsea, last winning three in a row against the Blues between February 2010-February 2012. Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in six of their last eight Premier League meetings with Everton, losing both games in which they conceded (W4 D2). Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti took charge of 76 Premier League games with Chelsea from 2009 to 2011, averaging 2.07 points per game in his spell with the Blues. Current Chelsea boss Frank Lampard played in 60 of these 76 matches, scoring 32 goals; only under Jose Mourinho did Lampard score more in the Premier League (49 in 140 appearances). Chelsea have won just two of their last 15 away Premier League games against fellow ever-present sides in the competition (D5 L8), with those victories coming at Tottenham and Arsenal in December last year. Everton have lost their last two Premier League home games (vs Man Utd and Leeds) – they’ve not lost three in a row at home since March 2016, while manager Carlo Ancelotti hasn’t lost three consecutive home league games since November 2006 with Milan. Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three Premier League away games, as many as they had in their previous 35 in the competition. They last went four in a row without conceding on the road back in February 2016. Managers to have previously taken charge of Chelsea in the Premier League have won just five of their 34 meetings against them in the competition (D8 L21), with Chelsea unbeaten in their last eight such games since Rafael Benítez’s Newcastle won 3-0 in May 2018 (W6 D2 since). In his first five Premier League games this season, Everton’s James Rodríguez was involved in six goals (3 goals, 3 assists), and created on average 3.2 chances per 90 minutes. He’s not registered a single goal involvement in his subsequent five games, averaging 2.1 chances created per 90 minutes in those games. Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin is the Premier League’s top scorer so far this season with 11 goals in 11 games – just two fewer than he netted in 36 appearances in the competition last term. Olivier Giroud has scored in each of his last six Premier League starts for Chelsea – only Mark Stein (seven between December 1993 and February 1994) has scored in more consecutive starts for the Blues in the competition.Everton v Chelsea: What has been said?
Frank Lampard rates Carlo Ancelotti’s greatest managerial strength as his ability to harmonise ‘difficult’ squads.
“I remember the season very well out of a lot of my seasons, because it was a season I didn’t start very well,” said Lampard. “And Carlo came in and played a diamond formation, and I played at the top of it.
“I was finding it very difficult to get my games fluid, I wanted to improve my chances to arrive in the box.
“I went quite a few games without a goal, and I remember having a really honest conversation with Carlo and he was very open with how he dealt with it with me.
“And I was really, really impressed – not just because it meant my position changed slightly and I managed to start playing better – but just how he handled that for me, which was a tough period for me.
“And from then on the season just went from strength to strength, for the whole team. He got a tune out of the whole team.
“It was a very good squad, a very strong, but maybe a difficult squad and overloaded in some areas.
“And now in this job I really understand that you have to try to find balance in a squad, and he found a perfect balance that year in that run-in, so he should take a lot of credit for that.”
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