Lampard hopes for help from his old love

When Frank Lampard took over as Everton head coach at the start of February, he surely never imagined in the most horrific of nightmares that, almost three months later, the Toffees would still be fearful of staying in the Premier League. The Blues have even slipped to a relegation place in the standings after last weekend’s defeat in the Merseyside derby.

To make matters worse, the reigning Champions League winners Chelsea, an absolute top team, as well as their own former club, await the Lampard eleven next Sunday. The chances of a three-goal win against the Londoners, of all teams, are not particularly good. Consequently, lower odds are offered on the away win between Everton and Chelsea.

Despite the disastrous season the home side have had so far, it has to be said that at least in front of the home crowd there has been something of consistency in their performances recently. Seven points from the last three home games are an indication that the relegation candidates should not be written off in advance on Sunday lunchtime.

The Toffees have also won their last three home matches against their opponents, so it’s worth considering whether your predictions for the Everton vs Chelsea clash are the most attractive.

Everton – Statistics & current form

Frank Lampard is a Chelsea legend! The former international played 429 times for the Blues in the Premier League alone. He scored 147 goals and provided 97 assists, was named “Chelsea Player of the Year” three times, and celebrated various championships, cup victories and the Champions League triumph in 2012.

Lampard also spent a year and a half in charge of the club as a coach, but failed to make a lasting impression with an average of just 1.75 points, so that he was relieved of his duties in January 2021. Since February 2022, the former midfield star has been in the service of Everton FC – so far also with moderate success. In 15 games under his stewardship, they have already suffered nine defeats. Liverpool have only come out on top in five of those, two of which were in the FA Cup.

Everton hope for home advantage and last-minute efficiency

When faced with these less than satisfactory statistics, it quickly becomes clear that the nine-time English champions are in intense fear of staying in the Premier League. At the moment, the Toffees are in third last place, two points off the top of the table, but still have a game in hand. Nevertheless, the situation is threatening and the pressure to endure is immense. That’s one of the reasons why we think it’s far too risky to place a bet on the home side between Everton and Chelsea.

To make matters worse, Everton have already played nine Sundays in the league this season, picking up just a single point (one draw, eight defeats). A small glimmer of hope is the seven points collected in the last three home games, although it has to be said that the win against Newcastle and the draw against Leicester only came about thanks to goals in injury time. The Merseyside side were not able to convince in terms of football in these matches either.

Toffees much stronger in second half

But because the Lampard team should not be completely underestimated in view of the individual quality that is certainly present, we conclude by pointing out another tendency, which is that there is much more going on in the second halves with Toffee involvement than in the first 45 minutes. 35 goals were scored in the first half, 54 after the change of ends. More than twice as many goals were scored by Richarlison and Co. in half-time two, which makes us consider the odds on a higher-scoring second half between Everton and Chelsea.

The personnel situation remains extremely tight. Van de Beek, Gomes and Godfrey are definitely out. Townsend, Patterson and Davies will also not be available. At least Calvert-Lewin and Mina could return to the team. Both for the offense and for the defense these two key players are of great importance.

Predicted line-up of Everton:
Pickford; Coleman, Mina, Keane, Mykolenko; Delph, Doucoure, Iwobi; Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Gordon

Last games played by Everton:

Premier League
24/04/2022 – Liverpool FC 2 – 0 Everton

21/04/2022 – Everton 1 – 1 Leicester

09/04/2022 – Everton 1 – 0 Manchester United

07/04/2022 – Burnley 3 – 2 Everton

03/04/2022 – West Ham 2 – 1 Everton

Chelsea – Statistics & current form

Chelsea Football Club really only have one major highlight left to play this season. On 14 May, the Blues will face Liverpool in the FA Cup final. Thomas Tuchel wants to win at least one title there at the end of his second season in London.

Before that, however, they must defend their comfortable cushion of fifth place in the Premier League and thus earn the right to start the upcoming Champions League group stage. In third place, they are currently seven points ahead of Tottenham with one match left to play. So with each win, the capital club gets a little closer to the minimum target.

Chelsea 20221/22 stronger away than home

The fact that an away game is on the agenda on Sunday lunchtime should also be rather pleasing for the Blues, as Chelsea have actually picked up more points away from home than in front of a home crowd so far this season. Eleven of their 19 victories have come at home. With only nine goals conceded, they have the second-best away defence behind Manchester City. The last time the Londoners conceded more than one goal in a Premier League match was on 4 December.

Compared to their opponents from Liverpool, Havertz, Werner and Co. are also real Sunday experts. Not a single Sunday match at national level has been lost this season. In nine matches, there have been six wins as well as three draws.

The Blues usually blossom after the change of ends

Another interesting aspect is the usually low-scoring first halves involving CFC. In eight of the past twelve PL games, the score was still 0-0 at the break, but none of them ended in a goalless draw. In two-thirds of all cases, therefore, betting on more goals in the second half would have paid off, which can be used as an additional argument to prioritise such a prediction on Sunday between Everton and Chelsea.

Chilwell, Hudson-Odoi and Kovacic are missing through injury. Barkley and Christensen, both of whom will in all likelihood leave the club in the summer, were also forced to miss last Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United. Because the recovery time was correspondingly short, it is conceivable that coach Tuchel will make one or two changes. After all, we expect all three Germans in the starting eleven.

Predicted Chelsea line-up:
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Rüdiger; James, Jorginho, Kante, Alonso; Mount, Werner; Havertz

Last matches played by Chelsea:

Premier League
29/04/2022 – Manchester United 1 – 1 Chelsea FC

24/04/2022 – Chelsea FC 1 – 0 West Ham

21/04/2022 – Chelsea FC 2 – 4 Arsenal FC

FA Cup
17/04/2022 – Chelsea FC 2 – 0 Crystal Palace

Champions League Final
13/04/2022 – Real Madrid 2 – 3 Chelsea FC

Everton – Chelsea Direct comparison / H2H record

Everton vs Chelsea is a real classic in the highest English division. 165 meetings stand between these traditional clubs in the eternal statistics. Chelsea lead the direct comparison with 61 victories compared to 53 defeats and 56 draws. However, the Blues have only won 18 of their 82 away games at Goodison Park.

They have also lost all three of their most recent visits to the blue part of Liverpool. The last time Everton lost four in a row was between 1970 and 1973, but it should also give you pause for thought that Chelsea have won seven of their last 11 Premier League games against the Toffees. That is not out of the question on Sunday either.

Everton – Chelsea Tip

The third last of the standings will meet the third placed on Sunday at noon. However, there are good reasons why relatively high betting odds of 1.78 are offered on the away win of the favourites in the Everton vs Chelsea clash.

For example, the Toffees have won all three of their most recent matches against the Blues at home. In addition, Lampard’s side have taken seven points from their last three home games. The former Chelsea coach knows most of the players and will certainly have come up with a suitable match plan. However, there are of course also numerous statistics that point in the Londoners’ direction.

In view of these differences, we believe that a bet on the match outcome should not pass as the first betting option. Instead, between Everton and Chelsea, we’ll play the tip on more goals being scored in the second half.

In eight of the last twelve PL matches involving Chelsea, the score was still 0-0 at the break. The bet mentioned would always have gone through. Everton are also much stronger after the break than in the first 45 minutes. Consequently, we wouldn’t be surprised if, after a largely uneventful first half, the goals only came in the second half.