Chelsea will lock horns with Everton in the Premier League matchday 17 at Stamford Bridge on Thursday. The kick-off is at 21:45 CEST.

Preview

It hasn't been the best month for Chelsea as the current European champions have only registered two wins in their previous five matches across all competitions, including a 3-3 draw at Zenit Saint Petersbourg last week which cost Thomas Tuchel's men the first-placed finish in their Champions League group. What's more, the Blues were extremely close to going winless in three matches on the bounce over the weekend but Jorgiho's last-gasp strike from the penalty spot secured all three points against Leeds United (3-2) on Saturday. As a result, Chelsea have kept the third spot in the PL table where they sit with 36 points, one point behind renners-up Liverpool and five points adrift of leaders Manchester City who have already destroyed Leeds United 7-0 in their matchday 17 clash on Tuesday.

Everton, for their part, were quickly brought back to earth by Crystal Palace last weekend following a 2-1 win over Arsenal almost two weeks ago which was the Toffees first league victory since late September. Rafael Benitez's men, however, suffered a 3-1 loss at Selhurst Park on Sunday with Conor Gallagher netting a brace while James Tomkins also contributing to the Eagles' triumph. Hence, Everton have slipped down to 14th in the league standings with 18 points ahead of their trip to London.

Team news

While Ben Chilwell and Mateo Kovacic will certainly play no part for the hosts due to a long-term injury and a positive Covid-19 test respectively, it remains to be seen if Trevoh Chalobah and N'Golo Kante will recover in time from respective injury woes to feature on Thursday. Yerry Mina, Tom Davies and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, meanwhile, are still unavailable for the visitors through long-term injuries while Allan and Richarlison are also set to miss their side's visit to Stamford Bridge amid reports over fresh injury concerns.

Prediction

Even it Chelsea have struggled a bit lately due to some important absences in their squad, Tuchel's men still look too good to compete with for in-crisis Everton. Therefore, we'd even back the Blues to keep their first clean sheet in six games this time around as the Toffees will again be without their key duo Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin on Thursday.

Tip

Chelsea to win to nil at 1.8 with 1XBET.