Venue: Stamford Bridge

Date: Saturday, 12 December

Kick-off: 1500 GMT

We’re in the unusual (and unwanted) position of going three games without a win and seeing our lead in the table slip to just two points with our woeful performance against Man City last weekend. Still, with United not playing until this evening, the players have the chance to put a more distance between us again for a few hours – so no pressure then!

As for Everton, they haven’t exactly had a storming first half of the season but to be fair to them they’ve been inundated with injuries and their fightback from a two goal deficit against Spurs last week couldn’t have come at a worse time for us if they’re about to turn their form around.

MANAGERS’ VIEWS

Despite reports in the press about his ‘anger’ after our Champions League game midweek, Carlo Ancelotti seems calm enough with his players ahead of today’s game, stating “I was not very angry with them after the Apoel game but I was unhappy because we didn’t play a good second half.  I spoke with my players about this, nothing else. I don’t need to use the whip with these players because I know their professionalism.  But they need to be concentrated and play with intensity every game, even when the result is not so important.  What is always important is that we maintain our identity every game. That is to be generous and help each other and work with intensity for 90 minutes.  That is our aim even when the result is not so important and why I was unhappy but we’ve spoken and I’ve seen a very good reaction in the last two days inn training and tomorrow we will do a strong match for 90 minutes.  I don’t like to shout. If someone shouted at me I preferred to close my ears and not listen. So I prefer to speak. I only speak. Nothing else.  I don’t know what happens in other dressing rooms. I think to have good control of the dressing room matters because I want to maintain good relations and speak with players about the problems we can have in a season.  It’s not good to have a bad reaction. I want to have a relationship man to man. I’m a coach and have responsibility to make choices, only this. I want to give respect and I want to have respect from my players.”

David Moyes meanwhile, seems as up for the fight as ever and despite their results so far, is optimistic of the tide turning, stating “If you are not playing well you have to go back to good, old grinding endeavour and at this moment in time we are going to have to do that.  I would say our typical performances would usually be the ones from last year and the year before.  But the performances we are having to show now are the performances we had maybe three or four years before that when we were on a climb and trying to improve all the climb.  But that is why you have got that and you use it as your building blocks.  Maybe something changed from the second half at Hull. I think the players realise the effort they put in has to be greater if we are going to win games.  There is a slight improvement, not as much as I’d like, but certainly with what I have available to me we are getting something out of the players.  Sometimes you need something which moves your season on.  Last season we lost to Aston Villa (in December) and it looked like a devastating blow for us but we went on a great run and that propelled us up the table.  Undoubtedly it is a tough game tomorrow but we’ll go there and try to win.  Sometimes when we are up against it we can come through – and we are certainly up against it this time.”

SQUAD NEWS

Michael Essien, as we know, is out with a hamstring injury. Jose Bosingwa (knee), Alex (hip) and Kalou (thigh) all remain out, whilst Deco is excused for personal reasons. Carlo Ancelotti should recall Cech, Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka after their rest midweek.

David Moyes has Anichebe, Arteta, Jagielka, Neville, Vaughan (all knee), Osman (foot) and Yobo (hamstring) all missing, with Distin and Gosling (both hamstring) doubtful. Cahill also misses out through suspension.

TEAMS

CHELSEA (from): Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Ivanovic, Belletti, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole, Lampard, Ballack, Obi Mikel, Malouda, J Cole, Zhirkov, Drogba, Anelka, Kakuta, Bruma, Borini

EVERTON (from): Howard, Baines, Hibbert, Gosling, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, Fellaini, Pienaar, Saha, Yakubu, Neill, Nash, Jo, Baxter, Agard, Wallace, Duffy, Coleman

LAST MEETING

Chelsea 2-1 Everton (30 May 2009)

PREDICTION

Obviously after our last 3 games, this game seems harder to call than most. A quick check of our form following Champions League games this season though shows us winning all five subsequent outings (Spurs, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Blackburn), so there’s hope there at least. We’re at home as well and we’ve scored 20 goals without reply there since the opening day of the season, whilst Everton have conceded 10 in their last 4 games. Having said that, a massive 80 per cent of the goals we have conceded, have come from the dreaded set-pieces, so we’ll have to keep an eye on those if Petr Cech is going to avoid the sort of mistakes he made against City.

REFEREE

Phil Dowd

Filed under: Match Day, Preview