Chelsea vs Everton Odds: Four tips including 44/1 double

Chelsea welcome an out of form Everton side to Stamford Bridge Thursday evening, live on BT Sport.

A last minute Jorginho penalty was enough for Chelsea in their last league game, as they recorded back to back 3-2 wins ensuring no ground was lost on league leaders Manchester City. A 7-0 win for the champions Tuesday night means Chelsea need a win here to close the gap back to two points.

The former Chelsea boss Rafa Benitez returns to his old club under some serious pressure. Everton head into this game as 12/1 outsiders and it’s easy to see why - 1 win in their last 10 games accumulating a total 5 points from a possible 30 has created unrest among supporters as no team has managed less points during this period.

It doesn’t get any easier for Benitez when you look at the current absentees the Toffees have. They are still set to be without Calvert Lewin, on top of recent injuries to Richarlison and Andros Townsend. Lucas Digne has been suspended by the club.

Tuchel is confirmed to be without Kovacic and Chilwell ahead of this clash, but we may see the return of Ngolo Kante who will need to be assessed.

I think it would be stupid not to get onside with Chelsea here given the injures Everton have and their form prior to this fixture.

On top of that, Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 28 home games Vs Everton with the away side not managing to score in any of their last 5 league visits. The win to nil was tempting, but Chelsea’s recent defensive woes have swayed me towards the handicap instead.

The cards gives us a boosted price, a touch shy of even money. Everton have picked up at least one card in each of their last 8 games so 1 card should be standard here.

Holgate should make his 5th start of the season here after he has played the last 2 games due to injuries to others. Yet to be yellow carded this season, but did receive a straight red after 9 minutes off the bench vs Tottenham.

He received 9 cards in 28 games last season (32%) and the 7/2 on offer suggests a 22% chance of winning so already seems a decent price. He has committed 7 fouls in his last 247 minutes of Premier League football and will oppose Lukaku, a player who is great for getting opposition centre backs cautioned.

The Chelsea man is averaging 1.4 shots per game in the Premier League this term, and already has 2 goals to his name.

Only 2 teams have conceded more from set plays than Everton, and as they are without Yerry Mina I fancy Chelsea to exploit this. They are not bad themselves for scoring from set plays, only Arsenal and Liverpool have scored more. Three Chelsea centre backs – Silva, Rudiger and Chalobah all sit on 2 league goals already this campaign, but I’ve opted for Rudiger as holds the best shot averages of the three, but is surprisingly the longest price.

You can combine my previous 2 selections to create a 44/1 shot if you are after a longer price Thursday evening.

Best of luck if you follow these selections and of course always gamble responsibly.