Chelsea Looks to Settle the Score

The Premier League returns to Goodison Park on August 6th at 12:30 pm. Chelsea will be the visiting side in this matchup. Last season, these clubs met twice and Everton got the better of the series as they won once and tied the other game. There will be some mixed emotions from the Chelsea fanbase as this is the second match Chelsea club legend Frank Lampard will be coaching for Everton against them. Fortunately for Everton, his record against Chelsea currently stands at 1-0. Last season Everton finished in 16th place, keeping themselves in the league by the skin of their teeth, while Chelsea finished in 3rd but 19 points away from first place. Expect both of these teams to be playing with passion and aggression as they do not want to replicate last season’s performance. Caesars Casino & Sportsbook has the match result odds at -160 Chelsea, +290 draw, and +460 Everton. Additionally, the over/under goals for the game is set at 2.5 with the under being -115 and the over being -105. New users will receive a Risk-Free Bet of up to $1500 on their first wager.

For Everton, their offseason was disappointing as they lost their stud centre-forward Richarlison on a transfer to Tottenham. None of their offseason acquisitions really replaced this departure nor filled any important holes in their squad. During their preseason, they played four games only winning two and suffering an embarrassing loss to the MLS club Minnesota 4-0. In these games, they only averaged a 1.75 goal per game ratio. Preseason does not predict how a team will play throughout the course of the season but it is hard to ignore that they will miss Richarlison and may struggle to find their groove. Fortunately, they have a great goalkeeper in Jordan Pickford and a solid defensive midfielder in Allan. If these two can play their best, along with other players such as Dele Alli and Demarai Gray, Everton can walk away with points when the final whistle blows.

On the other hand, Chelsea will approach this game to send a message after a subpar season and hectic offseason. Chelsea kicked off their offseason by sending their striker Romelu Lukaku on loan to Inter. They then made two huge additions, signing Raheem Sterling from Manchester City and Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli. The signing of Koulibaly was huge as Chelsea had just lost their reliable and defensive force Antonio Rüdiger to Real Madrid. With all these great signings, Chelsea, unfortunately, fell victim to getting their other free agent targets taken away from them to other teams. In the preseason, like Everton, they won two games and lost two but their average goal per game ratio was 1.5. If Chelsea wasn’t filled with so many quality and world-class players in their squad, it would be understandable to be worried. In this match there is not one player Chelsea will rely on as every player in their starting squad is exceptional and an overall better team than Everton.

I would be surprised if Chelsea lost this game. They won their first match last season 3-0, so they are not strangers to starting the season off strong. Everton also won their first match last season but did receive goal contributions from Richarlison. This game most likely will be Everton having to defend while Chelsea keeps constant pressure and possession of the ball. I expect the overall chemistry and talent of Chelsea to be suffocating as Everton without Richarlison will not have that player in the attacking half that they can rely on and shift the momentum of the game. For this reason, I expect Chelsea to score multiple times in this game as they begin their redemption tour.

For our expert Chelsea vs. Everton prediction take the over on the 2.5 goals scored in the match.