EvertonChelseaPremier League

Chelsea face Everton in the 17th round of the Premier League. Although difficult, the Blues triumphed 3:2 against Leeds in the last round, ending a series of two unsuccessful games at Stamford Bridge. Despite the large number of injured key players, Leeds seriously hampered his opponent and Chelsea won the three points only after a late goal from a penalty by Jorginho.

In the last round Everton did not build on their 2:1 victory against Arsenal and recorded another loss. This time, the Toffees lost 3:1 as a guest of Crystal Palace, recording the fourth consecutive away failure. Everton's poor results are the reason they are 14th in the standings with a seven-point lead over Burnley. Many experts predict that in the event of another loss on Thursday against Chelsea, Rafael Benitez will leave no other choice to the leadership of Everton and will be relieved of his post.

Such an opinion is not devoid of logic. Since October 15, Everton have definitely not beaten any rivals in the Premier League. Even in the win against Arsenal, the Toffees were not convincing enough. In this period, in terms of expected points earned, Everton occupies the penultimate 19th place in the Premier League. It is obvious that at the moment Rafael Benitez is unable to stabilize the performance in defense of his team, and the lack of ideas in the front positions further hinders Everton.

Chelsea have also been unconvincing in defense recently and have conceded two or more goals in their last three games in all competitions. However, Londoners have many options in front positions and this helps them to compensate. Without Ben Chillwell and N'Golo Cante, Chelsea will have a hard time keeping a clean sheet against every opponent, but they are doing their best to score more goals. On Thursday I expect a second consecutive victory for the Londoners with at least three goals scored in the match. So far this season, the 2.5-goal line has been skipped in all of Stamford Bridge's Blues victories.