Paul Merson has made his prediction for Everton’s clash against Chelsea this weekend.
The Blues travel to Stamford Bridge to face the Londoners in their next Premier League clash of the season. Sean Dyche’s side are looking to follow up their victory over Brentford last week with another three points.
Everton’s win over the Bees last Saturday saw the Blues move up to 15th place in the league table and out of the relegation zone. It meant that the club are now one point clear of the bottom three with 11 matches left to play.
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Merson has explained how Everton’s remaining fixtures means that victories like the one over Brentford are vital. However, the former Arsenal star thinks that the Blues will lose 3-0 to Chelsea.
“Everton got a fantastic win against Brentford but they have a bunch of hard games coming up, so they really needed to get three points against the Bees,” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“Chelsea, on the other hand, are finally showing signs of clicking under Graham Potter after the Englishman decided to revert to a three-at-the-back formation.
“Some of the football they played against Leicester was unreal. In the second half, they sliced through the Foxes like butter and carved them open, with Mateo Kovacic and Enzo Fernandez pulling the strings in the centre of the park.
“I said it before and I'll say it again - these guys are massive dangers in the UEFA Champions League as there's just too much depth and quality in that squad despite how their league campaign has turned out so far.
“Raheem Sterling no longer makes Chelsea's best team anymore, as Mykhailo Mudryk, Joao Felix and Kai Havertz led the line to devastating effect against Leicester.
“Sterling did get the winner against Borussia Dortmund, but Potter is finally showing signs of finding his best XI and if Chelsea continue to win games, will he change his team? For now, if I were him, I wouldn't change anything.”
Merson was not alone in giving his prediction, with former Liverpool and Tottenham striker Peter Crouch also giving his verdict.
The ex-Burnley and Stoke forward reckons that Chelsea will beat Everton, but explained from his own experience what he thinks Dyche will do to help the Blues avoid relegation.
“Everton are mired in the relegation fight,” Crouch told Paddy Power. “It’s going to be one of the toughest seasons to call who’ll go down – everyone up to 12th could get dragged in. So it all will come down to form as no one looks all that much better than anyone else.
“I’ve played under Sean Dyche and I know he’ll try to make them solid and tough to beat over the run-in – they’ve got quite a tough string of games left so they’ll need to dig in.
“He’ll give them a solid base but you wonder where the goals will come from. Dominic Calvert-Lewin can’t stay fit and Neal Maupay is not going to get enough.
“Their away form has been very poor this season, they’ve three draws and six defeats in their last nine away from Goodison. And Stamford Bridge is starting to look like a tougher place to go recently.
“I’d expect Chelsea to dominate this game and can see them winning comfortably.”
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