Saturday’s match up sees high flying Chelsea take on a struggling Everton team who find themselves in the wrong half of the table and with injuries to key players to boot.
Chelsea have been in devastating form this season and despite their surprise loss at home to Manchester City last week, they still sit at the top of the Premier League with a two point cushion between themselves and last years champions Manchester United. Chelsea will be looking to bounce back from their loss to City and will see this as an eminently winnable game. Recent injuries to John Terry and Michael Essien will rob the team of two key players this week but the sheer size and quality of Chelsea’s squad means that this can be overcome. With Joe Cole and Frank Lampard both back to form and fitness I expect to see a strong and threatening line up this weekend, no doubt spearheaded by the imperious Didier Drogba who is really starting to hit his stride this season.
Everton will look upon this fixture with trepidation – particularly given their current precarious position of fifteenth in the table. Everton look a far cry from the team that scaled the heights of the league last season and finished fifth. The main reason for this has to be the unfortunate injury list that has built up over the course of the season so far. With injuries to Jo, Tim Cahill, Phil Neville, Sylvain Distin and Mikel Arteta they have been robbed of their best players for many matches and Manager David Moyes must be cursing his luck. Everton look to be overcoming the problems that have marred their early season, and with ‘keeper Tim Howard in fine form and key midfielder Tim Cahill seeing a return to the team I would expect to see Everton creeping back up the table in coming weeks. However, Chelsea may be a top team too soon, and I fully expect to see Chelsea put their recent defeat behind them this weekend.
Verdict: Home win Chelsea (1)
Odds: 2/9
Bookmaker: SportingBet
- Soccer News Like
- Be the first of your friends!
