Everton vs Chelsea – Match Preview
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It looks as if the pressure is once again beginning to mount on the shoulders of Marco Silva, then again perhaps it never went away and with Everton starting this weekend in the bottom half of the table serious questions will be asked as to whether he is the right man for the Goodison Park job.
For a club of Everton’s stature, a bottom half standing is something that signifies a massive underachievement and especially when you consider the amount of money that has been spent by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.
Any hopes of returning to European football next season will have dissipated last weekend after a defeat to Newcastle and it is the manner of that loss which will have caused the greatest concern for Marco Silva.
After taking a 2-0 first half lead, it looked as if the Toffees were to leave St James’ Park with all three points but unfortunately for them, the Magpies had other ideas and launched an incredible second half comeback.
One that saw them score three unanswered goals and in turn pick up a hugely important win to aid their hopes of staying in the Premier League for a third straight season come the start of the next campaign in August.
Everton would have no doubt done some soul searching after that defeat, but they won’t have time to feel sorry for themselves, as this weekend sees them play host to a Chelsea side that have seemingly rediscovered their swagger
Maurizio Sarri was certainly in the line of fire when he saw his players decimated by a rampant Manchester City at the Etihad last month, that 6-0 mauling was almost a watershed moment for the West London outfit.
Since then the Blues have sparked into life, something that was clearly evident on Thursday night when they put five goals past Dynamo Kiev and in turn book their place in the Europa League Quarter-finals.
Although it is not just European success that the cosmopolitan club are looking to achieve, there is also the small matter of finishing in the top four of the Premier League and potentially returning to the Champions League.
Due to who wins both the Champions League and Europa League, fourth place in the English top flight at the end of the season does not necessarily guarantee a place in 2019/20 edition of Europe’s premier club competition.
Therefore, Chelsea know that winning a European trophy would eliminate any potential risk, although at the same time it is an awkward strategy to just put all your eggs in a continental basket and that means they won’t be in the mood to take Everton lightly.
That’s because Chelsea still have obvious designs of finishing third in the table and with all their rivals having a weekend off from league activity, this is the perfect opportunity to ramp up the pressure on the other teams in the pack.
With just eight league games remaining, we are now entering the ‘business end’ of the season and Chelsea know that they can ill afford to drop points between now and May. Thankfully though, they look set to earn a maximum haul on Merseyside this Sunday.
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