Chelsea vs. Everton
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Kick off: 4pm
Chelsea remain unbeaten since Guus Hiddink replaced Jose Mourinho and they will look to extend that stretch to seven games when they host Everton on Saturday afternoon.
Both sides drew in the midweek round of games, with the Blues held at home by West Bromwich Albion, while Everton shut out Manchester City at the Etihad.
Hiddink is yet to suffer defeat, but Chelsea have hardly been the dominant force of last season since Mourinho’s December departure.
They have won only two and drawn three of their five Premier League games under Hiddink, including a 2-2 draw against the Baggies.
The Blues twice squandered the lead as a pair of cracking strikes from Craig Gardner and James McClean saw West Brom take a point back to the West Midlands.
Failure to win means that no side has lost more points from leading positions this season than Chelsea.
They only dropped 15 throughout 2014-15.
The Blues would have overtaken West Brom had they won, but a draw means that the champions are 14th in the table, six above the drop zone and double that to the top four. Of Chelsea’s 21 league matches, 12 have seen the Blues concede at least two goals and in total they have let in 31 – more than ever before at this stage of a Premier League season.
This will be Everton’s seventh match in three weeks since Christmas and they will continue to come thick and fast in the rest of the month, with the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Man City and an FA Cup fourth-round tie away at either Carlisle United or Yeovil Town to come.
After beating City 2-1 in the first leg of the aforementioned semi earlier in January, the Toffees again faced Manuel Pellegrini’s side, holding them to a somewhat fortunate goalless draw.
Wednesday’s draw means that Roberto Martinez’s men have lost just one of their 10 Premier League away games this season (at leaders Arsenal), although six of those games have been draws, including in four of the last five trips.
Like those around him at the top of the scoring charts, Romelu Lukaku has gone cold a little recently, failing to score in three of his last four league games.
However, the big Belgian still needs just two goals to match his best Premier League goal tally for a season (17 in 2012-13 while on loan at West Brom).
Chelsea possible starting lineup: Courtois, Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Fabregas, Willian, Oscar, Pedro, Costa.
Everton possible starting lineup: Howard, Stones, Funes Mori, Jagielka Baines, Besic, Barry, Osman, Barkley, Deulofeu, Lukaku.