Key events
David Moyes’ Premier League record at Stamford Bridge shows no wins from 19 games. He has a few like this at big grounds, doesn’t he? Anfield springs to mind. Here he is speaking to TNT’s Darren Fletcher, who starts by wishing the Everton boss a happy birthday (62) for yesterday.
Moyes on his players: “They’ve picked themselves up completely, got some brilliant results, got themselves in position where we’re safe now in the Premier League. They’ve all stepped up. Their form has been as good as teams at the top end of the league at the moment. We obviously lack some quality, we need to change some things in the summer but I have to say this group of players have done really well.”
Cormac Culkeen writes: “Surely if we’re talking about football and Shakespeare, Joseph Mourinho is the ideal Macbeth? Fits the concept perfectly, I think.”
Fun fact: there was a South African football called MacBeth Sibaya.
Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella has also been speaking to TNT Sports: “The morale is good. Today is a very important game for us. We had a good comeback last weekend so today we have a good opportunity to get another three points and be ready for the last games.
“The fans need to stay with us. We will have moments that we need to suffer but if we stay together we can do it. We have prepared well for the game and we know it is massive for us. We are going all out for everything.”
Enzo Maresco celebrates his 50th game in charge of Chelsea by being banished from the touchline. “I will be watching in the stand behind the bench,” he explains, looking slightly sheepish. “We have five games to go and we are going to try and win all the games. For sure, we can start today.”
On Cole Palmer’s goal drought, he says: “I have a feeling today that it will be a good day for Cole and hopefully I’m not wrong.”
Gary Naylor writes: “In Stratford Upon Avon for the matinee of Much Ado About Nothing. “Beatrice and Benedick in Shakespeare’s original rom-com set in the world of top-flight football and celebrity culture, where scandal-filled rivalries are the hottest new thing and lads and WAGs collide.” Might work… and might not. This Beatrice is a journo and Benedick a player (which kinda makes sense), but which other characters from Shakey’s canon map on to footballers? Gazza is Falstaff of course, Enzo Maresca will be keeping an eye out for a Cassius and Brutus if he loses today and I’m increasingly inclined to cast Reuben Amorim as Prospero, searching for the old magic on his lonely Old Trafford island.”
Send in any Bard banter here. I’m not much use, having tuned out a bit during English Lit although I did go on a sixth-form trip to Stratford to see Shakey’s work. Trouble is, my main recollection is buying a New Order album in a local record shop. ‘Brotherhood’ I think.
Peter Crouch on TNT now cracking a gag about his tan. It’s because he’s nearer the sun due to being tall, he quips.
Beto had a spurt of five goals in five games back in February but the Everton striker has lost his scoring touch since. Throw in a pair of games for his country, Guinea-Bissau, to make this stat stand out more and he’s gone nine games without a goal.
That Chelsea front four certainly has bags of talent. Neto has been a weird one this season. The fear was that he’d spent half of it on the sidelines having done his hammy but the bottom line is that he’s just not been very good: five goals in 39 apperances and only four in the league. Maybe the touch, turn, bang winner he fired home in injury-time against Fulham last weekend is a sign of things to come.
Yara El-Shaboury
Yara El-Shaboury is our roving reporter at Stamford Bridge today and she brings you this…
Yesterday, Enzo Maresca said Chelsea’s transfer plans in the summer will hinge on the team qualifying for the Champions League next season and today’s early kick-off against Everton will be a huge factor in whether that dream will come to fruition.
The home side have struggled in front of goal of late, with several of their forwards out of form. That hasn’t deterred the Chelsea fans outside of Stamford Bridge though. A pack of fans are in full voice, singing ‘Cole Palmer, he’s going to score’ while waiting for the team bus. Not a particularly creative chant but one that shows how much belief supporters have in the 22-year-old who is on a 16-game goal drought. He starts alongside Noni Madueke, Pedro Neto and Nicolas Jackson.
For Chelsea, this is Romeo Lavia’s first start since January. It’s a decent fact but nothing compared to the stat that Cole Palmer hasn’t scored for 16 games. With Lavia partnering Enzo Fernandes in central midfield, Moses Caicedo is shunted to right-back, meaning skipper Reece James only starts on the bench.
How weird to list an Everton team without writing the name Tarkowski. A hamstring injury has ruled the defender out for the season and his absence here ends a run of 109 consecutive Premier League games.
Teams
Chelsea: Sanchez, Caicedo, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, Lavia, Enzo, Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson.
Subs: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Badiashile, Tosin, James, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Sancho, Nkunku.
Everton: Pickford, Patterson, O’Brien, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gana, Garner, Doucoure, Harrison, Ndiaye, Beto.
Subs: Virginia, Begovic, Keane, McNeil, Chermiti, Young, Coleman, Alcaraz, Iroegbunam.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire).
Preamble
Chelsea have played 49 matches in all competitions this season and just two have ended goalless. The first was against Everton three days before Christmas, a result which ended an eight-game winning streak and sparked a decline in fortunes. Enzo Maresca’s side lost their next two matches. In truth, that Everton stalemate may well be a turning point from which they’ve never really recovered. Chelsea still have hopes of a top-five finish and a Champions League spot next season but it’s absolutely in the balance. With Liverpool and Arsenal taking up two places, it’s now a five-horse race for the remaining three between Man City (61pts), Nottingham Forest (60), Newcastle (59), Chelsea (57) and Aston Villa (57). Chelsea, Forest and Newcastle have a game in hand following Man City’s dramatic 2-1 in win over Villa in midweek.
For Everton, the David Moyes new manager bounce has gone rather flat. The returning hero led his side to a flurry of points to immediately rule out any fears of relegation but a current thermometer check shows just one league win in eight. A kinder take is that they’ve drawn five of those games and the only defeats were to Liverpool and Manchester City.
If all that suggests Everton might just nick another point here, the last meeting between the pair at Stamford Bridge does not. Rewind to April 2024 and Chelsea thrashed the Toffees 6-0, a young chap called Cole Palmer finishing with four goals after completing a hat-trick inside 30 minutes.
With everything virtually rubber-stamped at the top and bottom of the table, the battle for European spots is where it’s at now. Let’s get this thing on! Kick-off is at 12.30pm.
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