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Chelsea vs Everton

Lyndon Lloyd , 21 February, 0comments  |  Jump to most recent
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If Roberto Martinez's rhetoric towards the end of January was any indication, the Blues' manager had clearly been eyeing the last 10 matches of the season as being vital to his team's chances of finishing in the top four.

The recent disappointments at Anfield and White Hart Lane will surely have put a major dent in that strategy which means that Everton will need to pick up maximum points from the games they won't be expected to win if there is to be any chance of them achieving Champions League qualification this time around.

This weekend's trip to Stamford Bridge for the lunchtime Saturday kick-off, the Blues' last away fixture against the seven sides battling it out for those coveted top-four places, is clearly in that category. Win and anything is possible; lose, and there is every possibility that the gap between ourselves and fourth place could be as wide as 11 points come Sunday afternoon.

The task facing Martinez and Everton could not be bigger — Chelsea have hit their stride, are the current League leaders and haven't lost at home in the Premier League with Jose Mourinho at the helm in over 70 matches.

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They're not infallible, though, and, as West Bromwich Albion found out in November, if you get at them and cause them problems you can muscle your way into a position where you can win at Stamford Bridge as they surely would have done were it not a scandalously gutless decision by Andre Marriner to award Chelsea a late penalty that salvaged a 2-2 draw.

A revived Crystal Palace also ran Mourhino's men close in a 2-1 defeat in December, as did Swansea on Boxing Day, while West Ham frustrated them to a goalless draw at the end of last month.

With Romelu Lukaku ineligible to play against his parent club — it's unlikely he would have been rushed back into the starting XI so soon after recovering from an ankle injury even if he could figure — it's scoring goals that could again be the Blues' biggest problem. Lacina Traore got off the mark against Swansea last Sunday but struggled to impose himself in his first game in a foreign League. Still, he could be given the nod in this marquee match to see what he can do against the best that England's top flight has to offer.

Steven Naismith's crucial intervention in the cup last weekend will give Martinez plenty to contemplate, though, as will his scoring record against Chelsea. The Scot scored an impressively accomplished goal in this fixture last season and headed the winner for the Blues at Goodison Park in September and has four goals in his last five games. He has proved to be more effective coming off the bench this season, though, and that could be the deciding factor for his manager.

With no new injury concerns, Martinez just has to decide over whether or not to start with Ross Barkley again in midfield over Leon Osman. The veteran is another player who has been more effective as a substitute and Barkley is still feeling his way back following his foot injury but his Martinez may opt for his precocious unpredictability as he looks to spring a surprise on Mourinho.

With nothing much to lose and everything to gain, Everton just need to go for broke in this one and try to unsettle Chelsea early and keep them ruffled. They will expecting to have things their own way in this fixture as they have so often since the Blues' last win here in 1994 but, like any side, they can lose their discipline and composure and become susceptiple to being turned over by a team with the right approach and attitude. Hopefully that is what Martinez will be instilling in his troops ahead of this one.

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