The midweek run of Premier League fixtures comes to an end on Thursday night, as a selection of three games features the European Champions taking on the Toffees at Stamford Bridge. Everton are in the midst of poor form, losing all of their last 4 away fixtures. Chelsea, however, stay resilient as they haven’t been beaten on home turf in the league since late-September.
Pressure is building in the Everton camp, as manager Rafael Benítez is under fire for their poor form. An injury list featuring key players such as Richarlison, Digne and Calvert-Lewin would seem to put Everton on the back foot, but Chelsea have big-hitters such as Chilwell, Kovačić and a recovering Kanté out as well.
The Blues will be desperate to get the better of Everton tonight, as they need to gain momentum to keep the top of the table in their sights. Four league matches without a clean sheet is a shock, considering their solid defensive record that Thomas Tuchel has improved since he joined the club back in January.
These two teams’ stances of ‘keep pushing forward’ and ‘manager under pressure’ will create a fiery clash under the lights of Stamford Bridge. Here are my Bet Builder picks for what I think we will be seeing in London tonight.
Chelsea v Everton Bet Builder Tips & Predictions
Mason Mount to have 1+ Shots on Target
The Englishman has been in prolific form recently, netting three goals in his last three league games. The 22-year-old has been regarded as the shining light in a Chelsea team that is currently playing rather dismally. Constantly trying to create chances, the man who was ranked 19th in this year’s Ballon d’Or averages 2.48 shots per league game this season, with an average of 1.35 shots hitting the target.
Always being compared to Chelsea legend Frank Lampard, he adopts a similar style of play and is not afraid to go for goal. If the Blues are playing at the top of their game, or are struggling to make things happen for them, they can always count on Mount to produce a pop at goal, as he has stated recently that he expects more of himself and wants to end up on the score sheet more often.
Tuchel isn’t a stranger to mixing up his attacking line, as he is presented with a whole host of talented options. However, Mount always manages to get himself included in the starting XI. He has only failed to register a shot in the three games in the league that he came on as a substitute, so we should have no issue seeing him go for goal tonight. It’s been proven that he’s not afraid of the Everton defense, as he scored in this fixture in March 2020, which turned out to be Chelsea’s last game before the league was postponed. Here’s hoping for a repeat of that game, but maybe not what happened after.
Abdoulaye Doucouré to be Shown a Card
An injury hit Everton are rocking up to West London off the back of some poor away form. The jam-packed festive period is among us and with Rafael Benítez facing backlash from the media and fans, you can’t help but notice the deflation in the Everton team. However, this won’t mean that they’re not up for a fight. When things aren’t going their way during a game, the frustration of their form mixes with the current external factors around the club and causes one or two players to release some anger. We saw this last week when the Toffee’s lost 3-1 to Crystal Palace, as Doucouré found himself booked. Maybe it’s something in the London air.
With an average of two fouls per game in the league, the Frenchman has racked up a total of four yellow cards so far and I feel like he can add to his tally. With Everton missing Digne, Coleman and Mina in defense, Doucouré may find himself putting in an extra few crunching tackles to fill in for his depleted back line. Chelsea’s attack may cause a problem for him and his colleagues, as Chelsea have five players that rack up two or more fouls drawn in a game. With Tuchel constantly rotating his front three, you can be sure to see an attacking force consisting of a tricky player trying to skip his way into the box. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Doucouré putting his foot in a few times to try and stop an oncoming Chelsea attack.
Over 2.5 Goals
In all competitions, Chelsea have conceded eight goals in their last three games. When Tuchel joined the club, he got straight to work and developed a tight defense that was lauded all over Europe. They started this season extending their number of clean sheets under Tuchel, but times have gotten more difficult recently as a slew of injuries to defenders and key defensive midfielders have left holes for the opposition to exploit. With no signs of their leaky defense being patched up anytime soon, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Everton net one or two, as they look to take advantage of Chelsea’s poor form in December.
However, with the quality that Chelsea possess, it’s not very often that you see them not claw their way back into the game. Netting three in each game against Leeds and Zenit, whilst being able to put two past West Ham in this recent series of conceding a fair number of goals, we see Chelsea fight to the final whistle and still find a way to keep themselves in the game.
If they can restore their defensive ferocity in front of the home crowd, it still wouldn’t surprise me to see them score a handful of goals for themselves, as they have still managed to do recently and can take advantage of an out of form Everton who have let in nine goals in their last four away games.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets, my predicted line-ups can be found below *
Chelsea v Everton Predicted Line-ups
Chelsea Predicted 11 v Everton: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen; James, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Alonso; Mount, Pulisic; Lukaku (3-4-2-1)
Everton Predicted 11 v Chelsea: Pickford; Coleman, Holgate, Keane, Godfrey; Townsend, Doucoure, Allan, Gordon; Gray; Rondon (4-1-4-1)
Chelsea v Everton Cheat Sheet
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *
How to watch Chelsea v Everton in The Premier League
📅 When is Chelsea v Everton? / Thursday, 16 December 2021, 19:45
🏟 Where is Chelsea v Everton? / Stamford Bridge (London)
📺 What TV Channel is Chelsea v Everton on? / BT Sport 2
📱 Online Live Streaming for Chelsea v Everton? / bet365
🟨 …And who is the referee for Chelsea v Everton? / Craig Pawson 🏴
