Everton - Match Preview

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Venue: Chelsea will come up against Roberto Martinez’s Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday, September 14th at 17:30 UK time.

The Match: The match is part of the fourth round of the 2013/14 English Premiere League. It has been long awaited after two weeks of international football that never seems to live up to the excitement of club matches. This will also be the first fixture after the summer transfer window has closed and both sets of fans will be eager to get a look at the new signings that their clubs have made since.

Chelsea come into this match sitting in second place with 7 points from the opening 3 matches behind Liverpool who have 9 and will be looking to continue their unbeaten start to the season. Everton, on the other hand, are still searching for their first win of the season after drawing all of their first three PL fixtures. They currently sit 15th in the table with 3 points. A Chelsea win would see us go top of the table till Monday at the very least when Swansea host Liverpool.

Opposition Analysis: Everton's start of the season has been rather disappointing to the Goodison faithful. They are still undefeated, but as stated above, they have also failed to win any of their matches. They have looked solid at the back (apart from the Norwich game) and have dominated the possession in all of their matches, but the Everton players have often looked unsure what to do with the ball. They've created very little throughout the three games and have failed to score in two of them. It seems that the players are still getting used to Roberto Martinez's new system.

The Martinez Effect: Roberto Martinez is known to be a very tactical manger with a certain philosophy of how his teams should play football. Even at relegation struggling Wigan, he insisted that the team gets the ball on the ground and pass it around from the back forward with the players looking to recover the ball by pressing high up the pitch when they lose it. This is obviously what Martinez has been trying to implement at Everton as well. The transformation from Moyes' "traditional English" style to Martinez's Spanish football philosophy has been evident in the stats:

Everton's possession of the ball has gone up from 52% last season to 58% so far. Their passing accuracy also went up from 80% to 86% with the team attempting much more passes than last term; their average passes per match have gone up from 276 last season under Moyes to 378 under Roberto with the average pass length decreasing from 20 meters to 18. The team's woeful 2.5% chance conversion emphasizes their need for a new striker; something the manager has already addressed with the season loan of Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku (though he will be unavailable for this match due to the FA rule that forbids loaned players of playing against their parent clubs).

Martinez likes his teams to press high up the pitch in two phases with his attackers pressing the opposition center-backs and then the midfielders pressing the opposition midfield once the ball is out of defense. But the Everton players have been unable to implement this effectively so far. Their average interceptions per game has actually gone down from 15.6 last season to 10.6 this time around. But this can all change with the deadline day signings of Gareth Barry and James McCarthy who have the mobility and tactical awareness that is required to mark passing lanes as Martinez asks of his players to do, unlike Osman and Fellaini.

So, what should we expect from this Everton team? We should expect a tactically disciplined and defensively solid team that will look to keep possession and pass the ball from the back. They are still trying to accommodate Martinez's drastic changes at the club but they have made some excellent signings that will help them do just that. If their new signings click immediately, they can cause some serious damage.

Last Meeting: The clubs last met on the final day of last season at Stamford Bridge. Naismith scored in the first half for the guests after Juan Mata had opened the scoring. But a second half goal from Fernando Torres ensured that Chelsea were the only club to complete the double over the Toffees.

Team News and Expected Lineups:

Chelsea: Jose Mourinho played the usual 4-2-3-1 Chelsea's last match in the European Super Cup against Bayern Munich:

Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, D Luiz, Cole; Ramires, Lampard ©; Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard; Torres.

A similar lineup is expected on Saturday although Jose could hand Willian and Eto'o their debuts in the place of Schurrle and Torres. All of Eto'o Oscar, Hazard and Mikel picked up minor injuries with their NTs but all of them are expected to be fit for the match with Kalas the only Chelsea player missing.

Everton: Martinez also played the famous 4-2-3-1 in his last match against Cardiff:

Howard; Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Fellaini, Osman; Miralles, barkley, Pienaar; Jelavic.

Fellaini obviously won't be in the lineup since he completely a deadline day move to Manchester United. He will likely be replaced by James McCarthy, if fit, while Leon Osman could also be replaced by new signing Gareth Barry. McCarthy and Coleman are expected to shake off small knocks and be fit for the match while the match is likely to come too soon for Gibson and Alcaraz who are expected to miss out.

Facts and Sats:

- The Toffees have averaged the highest possession figure in the 2013-14 PL season so far.

- Chelsea have won just two of their last 10 PL trips to Merseyside, losing 6 of them.

- Should Everton fail to win this match, it'll only be the 4th time they have failed to win any of their opening four PL fixtures in 43 seasons.

- If the game ends in a draw, Everton will become the fourth side in EPL history to draw all of their opening 4 matches.

- During hi time at City, only Michael Carrick has attempted more passes than Gareth Barry.

- Everton have allowed less opposition shots on target than any other team in the PL this season (5).

- Roberto Martinez has won just 1 of his last 11 matches as a manger in the EPL.

- All the 10 scoring opportunities that Eden Hazard has created for his teammates have come from open play.

Betting Odds:

According to SkyBet, the odds for this match are: 11/5 for an Everton win, 12/5 for a draw, and 5/4 for a Chelsea win.

Match Coverage: The match will be live on SkySports in the UK, FoxSports in the US and Al Jazeera in the middle east. There should be plenty of streams available if you can't watch it on TV. If you're at work or not at home, the TalkChelsea official twitter account will be giving a live Twitter feed of the game so you don't miss a thing.

Note 1: All stats used in "Opposition Analysis" are from Squawka.com

Note 2: The players injury news are all according to PhysioRoom.com

Note 3: The match facts and stats are from "Football App" for Android.

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[meetdoscar 335]

I can't see us loosing before everton this season so I think chelsea will win 3 - 1(a hazard screamer, Mata and john terry, coleman for everton)

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I can't see us loosing before everton this season so I think chelsea will win 3 - 1(a hazard screamer, Mata and john terry, coleman for everton)

I wouldn't be sure. Yes, Everton have not yet looked their best so far this season, but we haven't exactly been setting the world alight either. Other than the Bayern game, which saw a brilliant defensive performance from us, our performances have been rather lackluster so far this season.

I stand by what I said in the article, if their news signings, namely Barry and McCarthy, fit into Martinez's system immediately, we're in trouble. I also predict that they will have more possession, especially if Jose persists with Lampard, and we will be restrained to playing on the counter.

[Phil Driver 503]

Lampard's scoring record is second to none at Goodison ,Jose will be well aware of this ,Lamps will be one of the first on the sheet for this fixture. It would be stupid for him not to select Lampard for this match and he will . Plugging gaps and passing backwards to allegedly boost posession stats does not always mean you win the game,goals do.

[corbetzzz 0]

Everton haven`t received any goal in 5 of their last 7 games, but we scored at least one goal in 19 of our last 21 matches and at least 2 goals in 9 of our last 11.

I would expect a close 1-0 victory for us.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Everton haven`t received any goal in 5 of their last 7 games, but we scored at least one goal in 19 of our last 21 matches and at least 2 goals in 9 of our last 11.

I would expect a close 1-0 victory for us.

Just to be clear, who exactly are "we"?

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Martinez said: "He [Mourinho] is one of the best managers in world football, there is no denial of that.

"Our league wants that and it is good for everyone to have the best at each job.

"One thing is playing a certain way, and the other is being very good at it - it needs time and I have been very impressed in the way we have played the first three games.

"The players have shown real strength in trying to do things in a different way and we have done things very well.

"(But) in football you can only consider satisfaction when you win the three points.

"You need to do that."

[Stats 6,988]

Lampard's scoring record is second to none at Goodison ,Jose will be well aware of this ,Lamps will be one of the first on the sheet for this fixture. It would be stupid for him not to select Lampard for this match and he will . Plugging gaps and passing backwards to allegedly boost posession stats does not always mean you win the game,goals do.

Wrong

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Lampard's scoring record is second to none at Goodison ,Jose will be well aware of this ,Lamps will be one of the first on the sheet for this fixture. It would be stupid for him not to select Lampard for this match and he will . Plugging gaps and passing backwards to allegedly boost posession stats does not always mean you win the game,goals do.

Did you just call Jose Mourinho, the best manager in the world, "stupid"?!

[Phil Driver 503]

Lampard's scoring record is second to none at Goodison ,Jose will be well aware of this ,Lamps will be one of the first on the sheet for this fixture. It would be stupid for him not to select Lampard for this match and he will . Plugging gaps and passing backwards to allegedly boost posession stats does not always mean you win the game,goals do.

My only thought is that Lampard was being saved for Europe after a tough spell with England ,funny how we have taken all those goals for granted over the years granted ,one in the first half today would have been useful ,priceless a midfield player who scores when it matters. Please do not make the same mistake again ,Jose.

Maybe not stupid if saving him for other matches is the idea, but more evidence to support the fact that players in his class are very rare indeed,if anybody needed it.