Everton travel to take on Chelsea in the Premier League this afternoon.
General view inside Stamford Bridge
Pundit Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he thinks Chelsea will beat Everton 2-0 at Stamford Bridge later today, admitting his concern about the visitor’s goalscoring chances.
Chelsea bounced back from their shock 3-2 defeat to Burnley on the opening day of the Premier League season by defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Wembley Stadium, in what was a tactical masterclass from manager Antonio Conte.
The Blues now have some confidence and momentum back, and whilst Gary Cahill remains out through suspension, midfielder Cesc Fabregas is available for selection again this afternoon.
Antonio Conte and Ronald Koeman
The Blues are back at Stamford Bridge this afternoon as they host Everton, and will hope for better fortunes than their last home game – but Everton will pose a tough challenge.
Ronald Koeman’s men invested heavily over the summer, landing the likes of Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wayne Rooney to boost their squad, and the results have been positive so far.
After beating Stoke City 1-0 on the opening weekend of the season, Everton produced a battling display to claim a 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Monday night, and also went through to the Europa League group stage with a 1-1 draw against Hajduk Split on Thursday night.
Ahead of the game, pundit Mark Lawrenson has told BBC Sport that he thinks Chelsea will win 2-0, praising their response to the defeat against Burnley by firing back with the win over Spurs.
Lawrenson added that he has been impressed with Everton, but his one issue with their start to the season is that Wayne Rooney is the only player to have scored a league goal for the Toffees, with Koeman needing more goals from elsewhere this season.
“After losing their opening game at home to Burnley, Chelsea were excellent against Tottenham last weekend, winning 2-1 at Wembley,” said Lawrenson. “It was like a set of good players saying to themselves ‘what was that all about last weekend?’ They have some very, very good players and won the league last year at a canter. Everybody was ready to say ‘played two, lost two, what is manager Antonio Conte going to say?’ and wonder whether he was going to leave the club. But it was a big win for them and I expect them to win again this weekend.”
“Everton have made a really good start. Everything about it has been impressive. The only thing is that, at the moment, Wayne Rooney is the only one who looks like he is going to score. Everybody knows they are looking for a striker, it is just a case of who they can get in. But they have a good manager and have made good signings already. They got battered 5-0 at Chelsea last season and while I don’t expect that to happen again, I do think they’ll lose,” he added.
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