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PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: EVERTON V CHELSEA

/noticias.info/ Chelsea official historian Rick Glanvill wonders whether we will see 11 v 11 at the end of Sunday's game at Goodison Park. Statistician Paul Dutton records plenty of occasions when the fixture didn't end that way.

Rick Glanvill previews Chelsea's chance to put the pressure on Man United.

Given the record for dismissals in this fixture - no Premiership head-to-head has produced more red cards - this game might have come at a better time for the Blues, currently playing catch-up to a United team on whom Lady Luck is smiling benignly.

Never the less, if Chelsea win the early afternoon kick-off it will close the gap on the Reds to two points, if only for a matter of hours. If fortune is on new West Ham manager Alan Curbishley's side at Upton Park things could get very interesting.

So much for the 'brotherhood of Blues', though: five Chelsea players have been sent off in the Premier League against the Toffees, the last six years ago. No doubt it will require a strong referee again this weekend.

Many of us will have had one eye on the Champions League draw but it is the less inviting prospect of a chilly trip to L4 that is of overriding importance right now.

Chelsea may have Carlo Cudicini back from injury but Joe Cole is out until after Christmas.

After partially resting Claude Makelele, Didier Drogba and Andriy Shevchenko midweek, then seen the change they wrought when coming on, Jose Mourinho may start with the side that closed the game against Newcastle.

The difficulty will be in how to deploy Arjen Robben, who is in such sparkling form and is an opponent Everton have good reason to fear.

The home side hope to have Phil Neville, Leon Osman and Mikel Arteta available for this match.

It's too soon for Tim Cahill, Tony Hibbert and Alessandro Pistone, and James McFadden has also been struggling with a hamstring problem.

That may mean a similar scenario for them as the 0-2 defeat at Portsmouth, with several first-teamers playing out of position and misfiring.

Despite the presence of Andy Johnson and Kevin Beattie upfront, David Moyes' team has failed to score in four of its last eight League games. Cahill is their top scorer, and he has been out since 11 November.


You have to go back to November 2000 to find the last time Everton scored more than one goal against Chelsea in any contest.

The hosts, weakened by 11 absentees, won 2-1 after Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink became the sixth player in six matches between the two sides to be sent off.

It meant Chelsea had not won away in the League for nigh-on eight months, and it was to be the last match for Graham Rix and Ray Wilkins as Claudio Ranieri trimmed his coaching staff.

Most astonishingly, Winston Bogarde played for Chelsea that day.

He was burned off by Danny Cadamarteri for the equalizer after Sam Dalla Bona's 25-yard thumper had opened the scoring.

A subdued home crowd roused itself after Hasselbaink's departure and Kevin Campbell scored the scrappy winner three minutes later.

Last season's 1-1 draw at the end of October was the first time in the campaign that Chelsea had dropped any points.

It featured a superb solo 25-yarder from Frank Lampard, who commanded the game after a poor start by the Blues. In fact, Lamps became the first person since Ian Rush in 1986-7 to score in four different games during one season against the Toffees.

Over-enthusiastic Shaun Wright-Phillips had tackled back and bundled Cahill over for a first half penalty.

We won 1-0 here in November 2004, overcoming Everton's spirited doggedness after Beattie's early dismissal for a stupid assault on William Gallas.

David Moyes defended Beattie's head butt as the two players chased a harmless ball saying he would have been ashamed to go down like Gallas.

'Whatever happened to big strong centre-halves?' he railed. Chelsea's players buzzed in the dressing room afterwards as if it were a cup final.

The match-winner and star of the show, as so often against Everton, was Eidur Gudjohnsen, who tapped in from close range after Gallas's header hit the woodwork.

Despite their injury problems, you can never really rest easy at Goodison, and Moyes would be delighted to do his old friend and confidant Sir Alex Ferguson a favour.


EVERTON V CHELSEA - Paul Dutton examines the records going into the first of three consecutive away games.

The Everton-Chelsea fixture in the Premiership has included more red cards than any other game. In 28 games there have been ten in all, eight of which have been at Goodison Park. The ten are Mark Hughes in Jan 1996, Frode Grod�(May 1997), Slaven Bilic (Nov 1997), Richard Dunne and Dennis Wise (Dec 1998), Frank Leb?uf (Nov 1999), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Nov 2000), David Unsworth (Dec 2002), Kevin Beattie (Feb 2006) and Lee Carsley (Apr 2006).

We have played 14 games at Goodison Park in the Premiership and have won five, lost three and drawn six. We are hoping to extend our unbeaten record there in all competitions to seven games (including one in the FA Cup last season).

We dropped our first points of the season at Goodison last season. It was our tenth game. Everton remained bottom with four points from nine matches (see below).

In February 2005 an Eidur Gudjohnsen goal in the 69th minute was enough to secure the points. James Beattie was sent off after eight minutes for head butting William Gallas. Chelsea moved 12 points clear at the top from Man Utd with 11 games to play. Everton stayed fourth.

We won by the same score the previous season in November 2003. Adrian Mutu struck the only goal three minutes after the interval.

On December 7 2002, goals from Mario Stanic and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink put us two up by the half hour and Gary Naysmith pulled one back just before half time. The second half was a battle throughout. Unsworth was sent off in the last minute, then Jesper Gronkjaer scored to wrap the game up 3-1.

In November 2001 a goalless draw followed an international week. In a game that lacked quality, Mark Bosnich tore a thigh muscle and was replaced by Carlo Cudicini.

Our last defeat at Goodison came in November 2000. We fielded a side containing Winston Bogarde and Slavisa Jokanovic and went one up right on half time with a 20-yard volley by Sam Dalla Bona. Second half goals by Danny Cadamarteri and Kevin Campbell and a red card for Hasselbaink gave the Toffees a 2-1 win. Everton were one place higher than Chelsea in 13th place.

In eight home Premiership matches, Everton have won five (Watford 2-1, Liverpool 3-0, Sheffield Utd 2-0, Bolton 1-0, West Ham 2-0), lost one (Aston Villa 0-1) and drawn two (Wigan 2-2, Man City 1-1).

They have lost four of their last seven top flight games that includes only two wins. The Toffees have only lost two of their last 18 Premiership games at Goodison Park winning 11 of them.

Everton have played 20 games in all competitions this season, won eight, lost six and drawn six scoring 26 goals and conceding 19. They have kept six clean sheets and have failed to score on five occasions.

Our 1-0 win on Wednesday against Newcastle closed the gap at the top to five points. With games in hand now played all leading teams have played 17 games. Man Utd are on 44 points, Chelsea have 39, Arsenal moved up to third after their late win at Wigan are on 29, Portsmouth and Liverpool are on 28 and Bolton have 27. Everton are 10th with 24 points, five points behind third placed Arsenal. United are at Alan Curbishley's West Ham on Sunday.


Everton's last six games
Nov 11 Aston Villa (h) L0-1
Nov 18 Bolton (h) W1-0
Nov 25 Charlton (a) D1-1
Nov 29 Man Utd (a) L0-3
Dec 3 West Ham (h) W2-0
Dec 9 Portsmouth (a) L0-2

Tim Cahill is Everton's top scorer with seven goals. In the Premiership Andrew Johnson has six, Tim Cahill five, Mikel Arteta three including one penalty, James Beattie two (both penalties) and Leon Osman and James Vaughan one. There have also been two own goals.

Everton's team that lost at Fratton Park last Saturday was: (4-4-2) Howard; Yobo, Weir (McFadden h-t), Stubbs, Lescott; Van der Meyde (Vaughan 80), Davies, Carsley, Valente; Beattie (Anichebe (h-t), Johnson. Van der Meyde, Stubbs, Beattie and Johnson were booked.

Joseph Yobo has played every minute and Lee Carsley and Joleon Lescott have featured in every Premiership game.

If selected, Frank Lampard will make his 200th Premiership start for Chelsea.

Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard have featured in every Premiership match this season. Michael Essien has played every minute of all 26 games in all competitions.

Didier Drogba is the country's top scorer with 15 in all competitions from Louis Saha on 12. Dimitar Berbatov was 10. Peter Crouch, Kanu and Jermain Defoe are on nine.

There are no suspensions from either side. Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba and Claude Makelele have four domestic bookings. One more will result in a one-match ban.

Chelsea are the only club to have scored in every Premiership game this season.

Chelsea's 26 games in all competitions have seen 18 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats. We have scored 44 goals and conceded 15 with 15 clean sheets. We have failed to score in just one game (away to Werder Bremen).

The referee is Mark Halsey.

Everton have never won the Premiership but have won the old First Division nine times the last occasion being in 1987. Their last piece of silverware was the FA Cup in 1995 when they beat Man Utd 1-0 at Wembley. Joe Royle, in his first season as Everton manager, remains the last Englishman to have won it.

Everton's Nuno Valente played under Jose Mourinho at Porto and played in their Champions League victory in 2004 with Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho.

Chelsea's overall record against Everton in all competitions is: played 148, won 56, drawn 44, lost 48.

Head to head in the League at Goodison Park: Played 67, won 13, drawn 21, lost 33.

LAST SEASON'S CORRESPONDING GAME

Everton 1 Chelsea 1

Barclays Premiership, Sunday October 23rd 2005 at Stamford Bridge.
Everton (4-4-2) Martyn; Hibbert, Yobo, Weir (c), Valente (Ferrari 45); Arteta, Cahill (Davies 69), Neville, Kilbane; Beattie, Ferguson (Bent 78).
Scorer Beattie (pen 35)
Booked Arteta, Ferrari
Chelsea(4-3-3)Cech; Gallas, Huth, Terry (c), Del Horno; Essien, Makelele, Lampard; Wright-Phillips (Gudjohnsen 57), Drogba (Crespo 70), J Cole (Robben 66).
Scorer Lampard (49)
Booked Drogba, Huth
Referee Mark Clattenburg.
Crowd 36,042.
Nine points clear at the top. notas_de_prensa_archivo