Everton vs. Chelsea Predictions: Toffees to struggle against Sunday's visitors

Sunday afternoon live on Sky Sports, Everton welcome Chelsea to Goodison Park where they will be desperate for any kind of result in order to take a step closer to survival.

Lampard has had a tough time since taking charge of the Toffees and things aren’t getting any easier with a difficult run in to end the Premier League season. This home fixture against his former club, Chelsea, with still Leicester, Palace and Arsenal to come, its not going to be easy to achieve survival, any kind of result here would be a god send. Sitting in 18th place with Burnley one place and two points higher, Burnleys six-pointers against Watford on Saturday could see Everton slip even further into relegation.  A host of injuries still trouble this Everton side, but the potential return of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Yerry Mina could be a huge boost to their survival chances.

A 1-1 draw against Manchester United in midweek means Thomas Tuchels Chelsea have not yet secured third place in the Premier League. Now only six points ahead of Arsenal and five matches to go, its important they don’t take the foot off the gas, although a relatively easy run in – fixtures against Everton, Wolves, Leeds, Leicester and Watford to come. A similar line-up that faces Manchester United is expected here, with Reece James keeping his place at right wing-back where he looks most impactful. Barkley, Chilwell, Kovacic and Hudson-Odoi will all miss out again, Jorginho and Kante likely to start in the centre of the park.

Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Coleman, Mina, Keane, Mykolenko; Delph, Doucoure, Iwobi; Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Gordon

Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Kante, Alonso; Mount, Werner; Havertz

The Toffees have it all to do if they are to remain in the Premier League next season, but facing a Chelsea side who don’t concede many shots could make it a very tough day in front of a frustrated home crowd.

Across Everton's last ten Premier League matches, they only average 9.8 shots per game, going under this 8.5 line on four occasions. These numbers would in fact conclude that this price is around correct, until you factor in Chelsea’s defensive capabilities. Chelsea’s last eleven matches have only seen their opposition clear this line twice, with the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid (in both legs), West Ham and Lille all failing to meet the quota.

It's not often I delve into the card markets but in a game of such importance I am going to side with the Brazilian midfielder at a generous price.

Not many players celebrate after making tackles, but showing such desire can often result in being overly aggressive and picking up bookings. His last twelve matches have seen him pick up five yellow cards and a red card. 12/5 implies a chance of only 29% and with so much importance on this game, I think theres a great chance he goes into the book. Its likely he will be chasing shadows the majority of the game, similarly to when he faced Liverpool last time out where he managed only five total passes in seventy-three minutes of football. Being on the back foot without seeing the ball for that long can take its toll, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was to get frustrated yet again again when trying to battle against the likes of Kante and Jorginho in midfield. 

@DeanWoodward93 BettingOddsUK 2022 Profit/Loss +13.9u (38.07% ROI)