In the face of Everton in crisis, Chelsea are looking for a place in the quarterfinals of the 2017/2018 League Cup of England on Wednesday, October 25th. In Stamford Bridge, London, the confrontation begins scheduled to 4:45 a.m. (Brasília time).
In the round of 16 of the tournament, the regulation establishes a single match. It will survive in the fight for the title who do better in the 90 minutes regulation. Equality causes the realization of the extension and if the tie persists the decision will happen through the collection of penalties.
Chelsea’s recent performance
Chelsea also faced a minor crisis until Saturday, October 21. After two consecutive defeats of the English Championship, entered the field to face the surprising Watford. The clash was a roller coaster for players, coaching staff and fans of the London team. The blues came out ahead, took the turn and got the win with goals in the final moments of the second stage.
By scoring 4-2, Chelsea have managed to remain in the Premier League squad. With 16 points (five wins, one draw and three losses), he is fourth. The distance to Manchester City, leader, is nine points.
It was a relief not only for the recent stumbling in the English Championship, but also because of weak performance against Roma last week. In the third round of the UEFA Champions League group stage, Chelsea were dominated by the Italians and escaped a defeat by setting a goal at the end of the match, which ended in a 3-2 draw.
In the League Cup of England, the team made only one match. In their debut, already in the third phase, thrashed Nottingham by 5 to 1 in Stamford Bridge. In that duel, the technician Antonio Conte put a team mainly reserve in the field. Faced with a theoretically stronger opponent, it can increase the number of holders, but it will hardly fail to spare some athletes giving opportunities to who is on the bench in most games.
After all, the Italian coach previously complained about the lack of options in his squad asking the top men to make more signings. Risking their top athletes in a tournament of small importance as it is considered the League Cup could imply in complications in the competitions of greater relevance.
Defenseless defenses should be defender Victor Moses (six games in the English Championship 2017/2018, no goal); and the socks Daniel Drinkwater (without performances) and N’Golo Kanté (seven games, one goal), who are under the care of the medical department.
The current form of Everton
Sunday, October 22, was doubly bad for Everton. Acting at home, the team came out ahead against Arsenal. Not only did he take the turn, as he was thrashed, by 5 to 2, plummeting on the leaderboard and coming to appear in the relegation zone.
It was his fourth consecutive match, adding all the competitions, without victory (two draws and two defeats). With eight points (two wins, two draws and five losses) he completed the ninth round of the Premier League 2017/2018 in eighteenth place.
It is a disastrous situation for a team with the volume of investment Everton made for the season, but it is not difficult to reverse. After all, the Liverpool blues score is the same as for Swansea, West Ham and Stoke, who are between the 15th and 17th places. They only take advantage when the tie-breaking criteria are used for the definition of positions.
The warning signal, however, is on triggered an unusual reaction from the board. Dutch coach Ronald Koelman was fired on Monday, October 23. Everton is not adept at dismissing coaches before completing at least two seasons in charge.
So, on Wednesday’s game, the team must have an assistant in charge until a replacement for Koelman, who took command in the 2016/2017 season, is set. That is likely to mean the line up of what the team have to do better to face Chelsea, as the chances of higher flights in the Premier League are negligible.
The same reasoning applies to the dispute of the Europa League. After three rounds, Everton added just one point (one draw and two defeats) and is in the group E flashlight. The second round remains, but the football shown does not give much hope of qualifying for the knockout . The leader is Atalanta (seven points) followed by Lyon (five).
So if you want to avoid a completely erased season Everton will need to produce results in the League Cup or the FA Cup. In the first, it made its debut in the third stage and obtained a quiet victory before Sunderland, of the Second Division. He scored 3-0 in a game played at Goodinson Park.
History of the matches Chelsea vs Everton
Chelsea were the winners in their last three games against Everton. The last of them already in the season 2017/2018 of the English Championship. The London Blues, at home, scored 2-0 at Liverpool.
PREDICTION: Chelsea win @ 1.36