Everton vs Chelsea Predictions

• Everton could have a new manager in the dugout for Saturday’s game.
• Chelsea won five of their last six Premier League away fixtures.
• Everton recorded one win in their last five home matches.
• The Toffees did manage to score in seven of their last nine games.

A change in the dugout at Goodison Park?

At the time of writing unpopular Portuguese manager Marco Silva was on the brink of losing his job at Everton following the Toffees’ harrowing 5-2 battering at the hands of local rivals Liverpool at Anfield in mid-week.

Everton slipped into the Premier League’s dropzone after their Merseyside mauling, and after a dreadful run of eight defeats in 11 games in the competitions, Silva can have few complaints when his imminent removal from office is eventually confirmed.

The Toffees fragile state should open the door wide enough for Chelsea to come in and snatch three points at Goodison Park in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, and the Blues picked up a much needed, confidence-building three points in their own mid-week outing.

Chelsea bounce back

Having been turned over at home by West Ham in the shock result of last weekend’s top-flight programme, Chelsea bounced backed straight back at the Bridge on Wednesday with a 2-1 win over a dogged Aston Villa outfit.

The victory was Chelsea’s seventh in nine Premier League matches since mid-September, and the Blues’ performances away from home during that stretch were particularly impressive.

Frank Lampard’s young charges were edged out by defending champions Manchester City in their last away day assignment, but before that the Blues recorded five straight Premier League wins on the road, scoring a whopping 19 times in the process.

No home comforts for Everton

In contrast, Everton managed to win just one of their last five league games at Goodison Park, and their embarrassing 0-2 defat to Norwich in their last match on home turf plunged more than a couple of nails in to Marco Silva’s Toffees’ coffin.

With Everton’s confidence at its lowest ebb of the season, Chelsea are generously priced to take maximum points on Merseyside on Saturday, and we’re tipping the Blues to do just that.

However, we don’t expect the Blues to keep a clean sheet at Goodison Park. Despite their overall woes, Everton have at least held on to some of their goal-scoring threat, and the Toffees registered at least once in all but two of their last nine league fixtures.

Chelsea are still searching for their first clean sheet away from Stamford Bridge this season, shipping 2.0 goals per game on average on their travels since the summer.

Their average of 2.7 goals per 90 minutes at the other end suggests that Chelsea have the goal-getting power to outscore their beleaguered hosts however, and we’re tipping the Londoners to leave with a 2-1 win.