Fans Comment
Anthony Paul

Can Everton overturn the odds against Chelsea?
12/02/05

With a narrow one-goal defeat in both last season's corresponding fixture and this season's game at Stamford Bridge, you would have to look as far back as November 2000 for Everton's last victory against the big spending Blues of London.  That day, a mix-&-match Walter Smith side upset the odds with an unlikely win but, if the Toffees are to repeat that performance, then they can take heart from a more recent display in October 2002.  The date may be more etched in the memory for a certain Scouse schoolboy making his national bow, but manager David Moyes will remember a display were a similar steely Blues side showed up the runaway leaders as southern softies, thus ending a proud 30-match unbeaten run in the process.

Of course Moyes won't be the only Scottish manager praying for an Everton upset on Saturday.  Alex Ferguson will also be hoping that a possible Chelsea defeat will set the rot in their campaign, comparable to that of Arsenal's demise in 2002.  With Arsenal never seeming the same side after their first defeat, Utd put together a storming end-of-season run, winning eight of their last nine, and stealing the title at the death with the Gunners' last-day defeat at home to lowly Leeds.

Ferguson, as only he can, has turned up the heat in recent weeks in the mindgames stakes, suggesting Chelsea will falter in their trips up-North.  Mourinho, of course no shrinking violet himself, has said in return that playing up-North is like water off a duck's back for his all-conquering Chelsea team. 

The groundsmen at Goodison Park on Saturday morning may well have to chase a few ducks off what was once a playing surface.  Indeed the pitch is terrible and the Chelsea superstars, still firing for glory on all four fronts, will not terribly relish a tough and tiresome encounter on it.

They certainly knew they were in a game at Blackburn earlier this month.  Mourinho's comments after a battling and bruising clash at Ewood suggested he didn't care much for his opponents' bullying tactics nor the heavy condition of the pitch.  He was equally dismissive and contemptuous of the approach of Kevin Keegan's Manchester City last Sunday in earning a draw at the Bridge. 

In Mourinho's defence, this could be deemed as simple frustration at his side's inability to turn pressure and possession into goals.  But most see it as a lack of respect and recognition for inferior sides and their efforts to bridge the quality gap with determined and organised displays, and this attitude is beginning to get under the skin of some of his Premiership peers.  Could these recent outbursts be taken as indication that the pressure at the perch of the Premiership is beginning to take its toll on Mourinho?

Everton's recent form has been far more alarming, making hard work of a home win in a scrappy and stuttering display against lowly Norwich, and gaining a draw at the death at struggling Southampton in what manager Moyes described as, "the worst display of season."  The Toffeemen seem to have lost a little balance of late with the departure of the inspirational and dynamic Thomas Gravesen, compounded with the arrival of an out-of-shape James Beattie.  Beattie, to be fair, has been looking sharper and more dangerous by the game, and the return of the underated Leon Osman should provide Everton with some of the creativity they have clearly lacked in recent fixtures.

An interesting fact to take into Saturday's match is how Chelsea have dropped points after each international this season, and Mourinho has expressed fears that this may be an ongoing problem for his team of international stars.  The draw with Bolton stands out, in a game were the Londoners' inability to cope with the physicality and directness of the Trotters' approach provied to be decisive in the squandering of points at the Bridge.  Mourinho by his own account, apportioned his team's difficulties in disposing of the Toffees in the November clash to "the tallest and strongest team's ... aggressivity and toughness."  More to the fact though, in an entertaining and engrossing encounter, the main difference between the sides lay in the presence and class of Arjen Robben.

It will be a sore loss for Chelsea to be without their outstanding attacking player for the next two months.  Time after time this season, he has been instrumental in tight games, producing where and when it has mattered most.  With Drogba another possible absentee on Saturday, Everton's determined and dogged rearguard could be forgiven for taking a huge sigh of relief.  It would be foolish, however, to not take into account Chelsea's many other attacking threats but their absence will undoubtedly benefit Moyes's Men and their ability to stifle their opponents.

It would be safe to say that a clash between two sides which play to give little away, with arguably the league's two best goalkeepers this season, is likely to produce a game where the first goal could be vital.  Indeed Everton's stats of eight one-nil victories, and all but one of their 14 wins by a single goal margin, are testimony enough to their means and methods of victory.  Add this to the fact that Chelsea keeper Petr Cech has just extended the Premiership record for clean sheets, and that both sides do not get beaten after going ahead, and you can see the match panning out a lot like the game at Stamford Bridge.  In that game, with Chelsea taking the lead early in the second period, Mourinho sacrificed a forward in favour of shutting up shop.  Moyes, ever positive in his substitutions, ensured Everton finished the game with four forwards on the pitch — but to no avail.

However, Moyes's attacking substitutions have often proved fruitful and turned the tide in Everton's favour in many a game this season.  Could we see with the introduction of Big Duncan Ferguson, so effective in coming off the bench this season, Chelsea crumble under a late and direct barrage from the underdog?  Or will quality tell and Chelsea simply steamroller their opposition once more?

Such is the beauty of football that all facts and opinion will be rendered meaningless once the whistle is blown amidst a cauldron of noise come 12.45pm at Goodison on Saturday.  The arguement that Chelsea surely have to slip up somewhere may or may not ring true — see Arsenal 2003-04.  Although, if that slip does happen at Goodison Park on Saturday, it would provide an unexpected and welcome boost to not only Everton's Champion's League chances, and the title hopes of Man Utd, but to all football fans in general as we watch the title race open up once more and prepare for another stirring finale.

Anthony  Paul

©2005 ToffeeWeb