FA Cup: Everton V Chelsea – Saturday, 29th January (LIVE on ESPN)

 

Everton V Chelsea

Saturday, 29th January – 12:30 (GMT)
Venue: Goodison Park
TV Coverage: ESPN

 

Everton

Still shorn of his leading goalscorer as Tim Cahill continues his quest for success over in Asia with Australia, David Moyes must somehow plot Chelsea’s demise this week well aware that his side have a dismal record against their London foes. A 2-1 triumph at Goodison Park during last season’s league campaign remains Everton’s only stand-out result against their London rivals in a quite remarkable barren spell of eleven years, a result the Toffees simply have to emulate at the weekend if they’re to watch Sunday’s tea-time draw with excitement and not resentment over another barren campaign without any silverware.

In many ways, Saturday’s midday date with Chelsea is an opportunity for Everton to face up to their demons, as not only is their overall record with the West-London outfit terrible to say the least – having won just one of the last 27 meetings, it was Chelsea who ended their pursuit of the 2008/2009 FA Cup, Everton agonisingly losing 2-1 in the final despite taking an early lead through Louis Saha, the Frenchman having scored four goals in his last four appearances against the two-time defending champions.

David Moyes has rued the fact the club no longer have any financial clout to continue thrusting fresh impotence into the squad, however, it could have its benefits at the weekend. The majority who were involved in the 2008/2009 final won’t exactly have fond memories despite a rare forage to Wembley, so it shouldn’t take a great deal for Moyes to rally his troops. Then again, what with the likes of Joleon Lescott, Steven Pienaar and Yakubu having moved on since without Moyes filling the voids, you do wonder how on earth a side which has made very little progress since that final, particularly the lack of improved personnel at the club, will even be able to compete with a rejuvenated Chelsea team who appear to be back to winning ways.

If Everton’s form over the last decade against Chelsea is cause for concern, there form over the last couple of months will probably be the final nail in Everton coffin as far as convincing the punters they are worth taking a chance on. Since the beginning of November, Everton have won just three of fourteen games. Interestingly, however, two of those were against opposition of similar calibre to that of Chelsea in Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, while we shouldn’t forget that the Toffees gave Chelsea one of their hardest games of the season back in December. It would appear Everton’s ability to ride to the occasion hasn’t vanished despite the fact many of their key players over the years have.

Team News: Tim Cahill is David Moyes’ only absentee, the Everton boss boasting a clean bill of health ahead of Chelsea’s arrival on Saturday. Yakubu is, of course, out on loan with Leicester City while Steven Pienaar recently completed his move to Tottenham Hotspur on a permanent transfer.
 

Chelsea

It would be fair to say that Chelsea’s aspirations of defending their Barclay’s Premier League crown appear all but dead in the water despite their recent resurgence in form, however the Blues can at least take heart from the way they began the defence of their FA Cup title, Carlo Ancelotti’s men brushing aside Championship opposition in the previous round in the form of Ipswich Town (7-0) and that result coincided with their recent upturn in form means Chelsea have all of a sudden become a far more appealing betting proposition ahead of their Fourth Round encounter with Everton on Saturday.

So Chelsea appear to have their swagger back? Ipswich Town (7-0), Blackburn Rovers (2-0) and Bolton Wanderers (0-4) have all been put to the sword by a reinvigorated Chelsea over the last two weeks, a ruthless Chelsea. It’s a stunning turnaround in form which has plenty to thank the FA Cup for, a competition which has been kind to the Blues over the last two years. Not since January 3rd, 2009, when drawing 1-1 away to Southend United, have Chelsea failed to win an FA Cup tie, and on Saturday, when they pay an Everton side a visit who they’ve beaten just once in their last six meetings, will set out to extend their winning run in the competition to a quite remarkable fourteen games.

It is easy to get carried away with Chelsea’s current renaissance. Three successive wins, all by an impressive margin of victory, is definitely a platform upon which Carlo Ancelotti can build from following what was a torrid finish to the first half of the campaign. But even so, some sense of perspective is perhaps required in order to avoid getting too hasty with a supposedly rejuvenated Chelsea. After all, all three of their wins were routine ones over Ipswich Town, a team struggling in the Championship; Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers, albeit the Blues overpowering them all to win all three games with an aggregate score of 13-0.

If we still haven’t convinced you to air on the side of caution, perhaps the fact Chelsea’s Monday night victory over Bolton at The Reebok was their first for nearly two months, ending a dismal run of results on the road which had seen the Blues suffer five defeats in their last seven away contests, and not all to world-class opposition either (Birmingham City 1-0 & Wolves 1-0), will. Plus, it was Everton who gave Chelsea a run for their money earlier in the season over at Stamford Bridge, a match Everton actually dominated to be fair.

Team News: Frank Lampard sat out Monday’s 4-0 win at Bolton with a calf problem although is expected back for the trip to Merseyside this weekend. Alex, Yossi Benayoun and Yuri Zhirkov all remain sidelined with injuries. The expected arrival of David Luiz from Benfica is no nearer to completion, meanwhile Gael Kakuta has gone out on loan to Fulham for the rest of the season.
 

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2010/2011 FA Cup Results

Everton

Third Round: Scunthorpe United 1-5 Everton

Chelsea

Third Round: Chelsea 7-0 Ipswich Town

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Pointers

Everton

- Everton have won only one of their last six home matches (5th January: Everton 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur), though are without defeat in their last three (W1 D2 L0).

- A 0-0 draw with Wigan Athletic (11th December) and a 1-0 loss to Newcastle United (18th September) are the only two occasions where Everton have failed to find their opponent’s net in their last 27 matches at Goodison Park.

- Louis Saha scored home and away against Chelsea last season as Everton collected four points from a possible six in the league against the Blues.

- Will be without their talisman and leading goalscorer Tim Cahill for Saturday’s clash, the Aussie having racked up nine goals for the term but is currently away with the Australia national team in Qatar, Asia.

 

Chelsea

- Have won their previous three matches without conceding, recording comfortable wins over Blackburn Rovers (2-0) and Bolton Wanderers (0-4) in the league as well as a 7-0 rout of Ipswich Town in the Third Round of the FA Cup.

- Before last Monday’s comprehensive victory over Bolton at The Reebok, Chelsea hadn’t won away from home since 30th October (eight games).

- Chelsea haven’t conceded a goal in the FA Cup for six-and-a-half-hours, not since Michael Chopra of Cardiff City scored at Stamford Bridge on 13th February, 2010.

- Nicolas Anelka has now scored in his last three starts.

Head-to-Head

- Everton have won just one of the previous 26 meetings with Chelsea, though the Toffees were winners of the last Goodison Park encounter. A Louis Saha brace cancelled out Florent Malouda’s opener as Everton came from behind to win on 10th February, 2010.

- These two have met nine times in the FA Cup, Chelsea bossing the head-to-head with six wins to Everton’s meagre two.

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Match Prediction: Draw – 3.50 Coral

In fairness, Chelsea aren’t the worst bet in the world at the odds. I presumed they would be far shorter than their odds-against price, though their odds are justifible considering how frustraing they’ve been for the best part of three months, despite their sudden turnaround in form.

I’m afraid three straightforward wins over Ipswich Town, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers doesn’t quite erase what has been an appalling last couple of months for Carlo Ancelotti and his Chelsea team, who nevertheless have an impressive record against the Toffees but were beaten convincingly in their most recent visit 2-1. Moreover, the Londoner’s were completely outplayed when the two sides met earlier in the season at Stamford Bridge. The Blues registering a point from that fixture was almost criminal.

Everton, meanwhile, well they haven’t been much better if truth be told. I’ve lost count of the amount of times they’ve come a cropper in fixture they should have won at a cantor but ended up losing.

Neither have been a reliable source of betting income this season, so I don’t see why either should be backed. If anything, Everton would get a tentative vote. The Toffees have this uncanny knack of raising their game in the crunch encounters with the country’s big hitters, having beaten the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham at Goodison this season, as well as beating Manchester City at Eastlands. Granted they will be without Tim Cahill, their top-scorer and talisman, but this Everton team has an abundance of character and rarely turns up for a clash with one of the country’s big boys lacking in spirit and determination to make haste of their underdog status. You’d be foolish to write them off on Merseyside.

Value Bet: Over 3.5 Goals – 3.50 Boylesports

It should be an entertaining affair. Chelsea have been scoring goals for fun of late while Everton haven’t exactly been shy in front of goal either. Plus, four of Everton’s last five games at home have produced at least three goals.

 

Match Odds:

Everton – 3.75 WilliamHill
Draw – 3.50 Coral
Chelsea – 2.10 BetFred