Times are getting tough for Frank Lampard and Everton, who have just six games left to save their Premier League status.
Burnley’s latest win yesterday has left the Toffees well off the pace in the battle to avoid the drop, although they do have two games in hand on Leeds above them.
The first of those arrives today with the visit of Chelsea, a side which has not lost an away game since January.
Thomas Tuchel is determined to right the wrongs of Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United after the Blues wasted a host of chances and surrendered their lead moments after finally breaking the deadlock.
Champions League football and a third-place finish are not yet secured for Chelsea despite their early crack at a title challenge, and there will be no sentiment about the Blues this afternoon as they take on club legend Lampard.
With kick-off at 2pm BST, follow Standard Sport’s live blog for the latest updates with James Robson at the ground providing expert analysis.
Live updates
How the hosts line up today
Everton XI: Pickford; Coleman, Holgate, Mina, Mykolenko; Doucoure, Delph; Gordon, Iwobi, Gray; Richarlison.
Subs: Begovic, Kenny, Keane, Allan, Calvert-Lewin, Davies, Branthwaite, Rondon, Dele.
How Chelsea line up
Chelsea XI: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Alonso; Mount, Werner, Havertz.
Subs: Kepa, Chalobah, Sarr, Kovacic, Saul, Kenedy, Pulisic, Lukaku, Ziyech.
Chelsea takeover latest
A consortium led by LA Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly is set to be named as the preferred bidder to buy Chelsea.
Following the deadline for offers to take over the Premier League giants from Roman Abramovich, a trio of official bids had landed before it emerged on Friday that Boehly had been given the go-ahead to complete a deal.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe had entered the running late on as a surprise fourth party interested in buying the Blues for £4.25billion before it was confirmed that Steven Pagliuca’s bid had failed.
Read the full story.
Head to head record
Everton wins: 12
Draws: 20
Chelsea wins: 27
Premier League only.
Evening Standard score prediction
Chelsea’s season had been drifting but at Old Trafford on Thursday – despite the result – they produced a much improved display and that could be bad news for the home side, who are in desperate need of points.
Chelsea to win 1-0.
Predicted Chelsea XI: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Kante, Alonso; Mount, Pulisic, Havertz.
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