Everton v Chelsea preview: kick-off time, team news and form
Everton host Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday 17th October for a lunchtime kick-off in the Premier League, with both sides arriving locked on 10 points apiece. As Royal Blue Mersey notes, it's effectively fifth against sixth, with Everton currently ahead of their visitors on goal difference (Royal Blue Mersey).
David Moyes's side go into the game unbeaten in the league this season, as ToffeeWeb points out, with a record of two wins and four draws so far (ToffeeWeb). Chelsea, meanwhile, have won three and lost two of their six, a more up-and-down campaign that has seen heavy scorelines at both ends, including a 6-3 Carabao Cup win and a 3-0 league defeat at Brentford among their recent results.
Everton's recent form reads draw, win, win, draw, draw, with their last Premier League outing a 2-2 draw away at Hull City. Chelsea's form shows a mixed run of draw, loss, draw, win, loss, with their most recent league match a 5-1 win at home to Bournemouth. In terms of the bigger picture, Everton have scored eight league goals and conceded five, while Chelsea have been involved in much higher-scoring affairs, netting 15 and shipping 13.
Read Everton describes this as the 197th competitive meeting between the two clubs in a rivalry stretching back 119 years, with Chelsea having won the very first encounter 2-1 at Stamford Bridge (Read Everton).
On the team news front, Moyes has been giving regular fitness updates through the week. Sports Mole reports on updates regarding Mykolenko, Branthwaite and Norgaard ahead of the visit of Chelsea (Sports Mole), while the Liverpool Echo confirms Moyes flagged a Jarrad Branthwaite injury concern and gave a fresh update on Vitalii Mykolenko (Liverpool Echo). Read Everton adds that Mykolenko "has a chance" of returning after responding well to treatment, having missed the Hull City draw with a fitness issue (Read Everton). Elsewhere, Jordan Pickford has reportedly been put on notice by a fellow Premier League player, with the Liverpool Echo quoting the warning that "We're all men" (Liverpool Echo), and Moyes has also been speaking about the form of Pickford and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall amid the ongoing goalkeeping conversation (Liverpool Echo).
For Chelsea, Sports Mole reports that Xabi Alonso has confirmed a summer signing picked up "a little thing" in training and will miss the trip to Merseyside (Sports Mole). BBC Sport also notes a lighter moment from Alonso's pre-match press conference, where the Chelsea boss temporarily mixed up the name of Everton's new stadium (BBC Sport).
Away from team news, there have been reports regarding takeover interest, with Read Everton noting a claim from talkSPORT's Alan Brazil that Alisher Usmanov is "trying" to become involved with Everton again, though this remains unconfirmed (Read Everton).
Kick-off at Hill Dickinson Stadium is 12.30pm UK time on Saturday 17th October.
Written with the help of AI, using the match facts and the headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.