Chelsea will have taken another big step towards securing their place in the Champions League next season if they beat Everton on Sunday afternoon. Nonetheless, with the Toffees battling for their life to avoid relegation, this will be far from a normal match.
After a 2-1 victory against Watford on Saturday, Frank Lampard will not want to be the guy who knocks Burnley out of the Premier League for the first time. Frank Lampard will not want to be the guy who leads the Clarets back above Everton and even over Leeds in their fight against relegation. Given that this will be Lampard’s first match against Thomas Tuchel since being sacked by the club where he is regarded as a legend, the former Chelsea manager may well have something to prove.
On Thursday night, Chelsea had a number of squandered chances, with Kai Havertz among the most blatant offenders despite assisting Marcos Alonso on his winner. Despite the fact that he reinforced his trust in his front-line after the game, it has presented him with a potential issue ahead of the encounter against Everton.
“He needs to fight back into his shape,” Tuchel said of Havertz. “It is like this, I have the same feeling. Hopefully, he shows a reaction. The guys are still young upfront and we will not start pointing fingers because lately, they have been very, very composed and very efficient in front of goal. Against Southampton and in the win at the Bernabeu, we took our chances very well and very precisely.
“It’s like this. When we look at the data and think about who plays and who does not play, we see a huge amount of intensity and sprints from Kai and Timo (Werner). So they don’t arrive fully, fully fresh at the moment in these matches and that’s why we will always protect them because it’s a team game we play and we demand a lot off the ball to have high recoveries. But I agree, in the last weeks, he had a kind of shape and form that he would’ve put this game to bed for us.”
We take a look at the whole group of players at Tuchel’s disposal
Goalkeepers: Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Marcus Bettinelli
Defenders: Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr, Thiago Silva, Marcos Alonso, Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen
Midfielders: N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Saul Niguez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount
Forwards: Kenedy, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner
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