The feel-good factor is gradually returning to Goodison Park after Everton stretched their unbeaten run to six matches with victory over Swansea on Monday night. The Toffees were far from swashbuckling against Paul Clement’s men but came from behind to win 3-1 with the aid of two penalties either side of a game-changing Gylfi Sigurdsson howitzer.
All of which means the crisis that engulfed the club under Ronald Koeman, and then caretaker David Unsworth, has already been forgotten within a month of the Sam Allardyce tenure - even if the lack of balance to the squad hasn’t. With 13 points picked up from the last available 15, the Merseysiders have swiftly returned to something resembling normality.
Had you been offered a glimpse of the current table back in August, the sight of Everton in ninth place with 25 points from from 18 matches wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows. Indeed, it’s fractionally better than their average (24.75) at this stage over the past eight seasons and only one point shy of their corresponding tally in 2015 and 2016.
The fixture list has been relatively kind of late, but Gladwys Street regulars would no doubt argue that a gruelling run of games against A-list opposition in August and September was the catalyst for their spiralling fortunes in the first place, a situation later compounded by the added demands of Thursday night football. Now a solid platform has finally been put down.
The Toffees might have taken only two points from a possible 24 against teams above them in the table, but this will be the first game against top-six opposition played on their terms, without undue external pressure. International breaks notwithstanding, this is also be the first Premier League game they will approach on the back of two consecutive five-day rest periods.
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Therefore, a keenly-contested clash is to be expected, with Allardyce forever hungry to pit his managerial wits against the biggest names in his profession. Last April, towards the end of his five-month tenure as Crystal Palace boss, Big Sam outfoxed Antonio Conte with two early goals at Stamford Bridge, inflicting a shock 2-1 defeat on the champions-in-waiting.
Conte would no doubt prefer to focus on the fact he has beaten Everton on all four occasions (by an aggregate of 12-1) since he arrived in the capital - three of them at home - but Goodison has been a tricky venue for the Londoners in recent years: they've suffered four defeats in the last seven visits. And crucially, perhaps, they must do without Alvaro Morata here.
The Spaniard, unbeknown to Conte at the time, picked up a fifth yellow card when celebrating his last-gasp winner against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, leaving the Italian barely able to conceal his disappointment when news of the pending suspension was broken to him in the post-match press conference.
That late drama against the Cherries, who had equalised in stoppage time themselves, was obviously preferable to playing an extra 30 minutes, but it could nonetheless prove costly should the emotional spillage prompt anything like the lack of energy and desire witnessed on away trips to Crystal Palace (1-2) and West Ham (0-1).
Morata is evidently instrumental to the way Chelsea attack in their refined 3-5-1-1 and it remains to be seen whether Conte will trust Michy Batshuayi to lead the line and manufacture the space in-behind for Eden Hazard, or favour a tweak of system that requires no recognised striker. Based on Batshuayi’s 68-minute contribution against Eddie Howe’s men, the smart money would be on the latter.
Either way, there’s enough scope in all of this to be opposing the visitors.
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Everton to beat Chelsea at 5/1
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