Everton host Chelsea in an early Premier League fixture at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with the clubs separated only by league position after matching 10-point totals from six matches.
David Moyes’ Everton are fifth in the standings and have yet to lose this term, having collected two victories and four draws. Chelsea sit immediately below them in sixth place, following three wins, one draw and two losses.
The visitors travel to Merseyside after a commanding 5-1 win over Bournemouth last weekend, while Everton were held to a 2-2 draw by Hull City.
Everton have enjoyed a strong record at home against Chelsea in recent league encounters, winning six of the last nine meetings at Goodison Park. They also secured a convincing 3-0 victory in the equivalent match last March.
There are injury concerns in Everton’s defence, however. Jarrad Branthwaite is uncertain because of a dead leg, although Vitalii Mykolenko may be available to return.
Chelsea will again be without captain Reece James, who is expected to miss roughly three months after undergoing knee surgery.
Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso previously came up against Everton head coach David Moyes in a Europa League quarter-final two years ago, when Alonso was in charge of Bayer Leverkusen and Moyes led West Ham United. Leverkusen prevailed 3-1 on aggregate and advanced to the semi-finals.
Opta’s supercomputer rates Everton as narrow favourites, assigning them a 42.9% chance of winning, compared with 30.4% for Chelsea.
