Chelsea’s visit to Everton in March produced a disappointing 0-2 defeat after a bright start. But as Wednesday against Aston Villa demonstrated, there is greater energy, urgency, and pace about Frank Lampard’s side, who are even more dangerous playing away from the comforts of home.

Although the Blues are yet to leave an opposition ground with a clean sheet in the league, we have bagged all three points in almost three-quarters of matches on the road, and 19 of our 30-goal tally has come outside of the Bridge.

We have also bagged the opening goal in 80 per cent of top-flight matches. In contrast, no side has conceded the lead to their opponents more than the Toffees, who have done so in five of their seven outings at Goodison Park, and 13 times overall.

Worryingly for the Merseysiders, they have been outscored by three to seven in the second half of home Premier League games. They are bright starters, however: three of their eight home goals this season have come in the opening 15 minutes of a match.

Lunchtime starts

This is Chelsea’s third 12.30pm kick-off this season. The previous two – away to Norwich and home to Palace – ended in wins for the Blues. Tammy Abraham netted the opening goal in both.

Premier League top scorers

Jamie Vardy 14Tammy Abraham 11Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 10 Sergio Aguero 9Sadio Mane 9Marcus Rashford 9

Mount, Abraham scaling heights

Norwich, Wolves, Southampton, and now Aston Villa… how many more Premier League climbers will succumb to Mount, Abraham this season? Whether in combination or individually, the Academy youngsters are helping set the pace for the campaign, Abraham having a hand in both Blues goals against his loan club last season.

The only players to score more times over their first 14 appearances for Chelsea in a Premier League campaign than our current leading marksman are Diego Costa (12 in the title-winning 2014/15 season) and Nicolas Anelka (12 in 2008/09).

Equally impressive has been the England striker’s developing all-round game. Along with him stretching defences and initiating the high pressing, there were some vital, Drogba-esque rearguard interventions from the rapidly-maturing 22-year-old again on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, right-back Reece James, 19, was finally granted the assist his regular high quality crossing has deserved.

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Look for the Silva lining

After Marco Silva succeeded Sam Allardyce in 2018 he made widespread changes, bringing Richarlison with him from Watford and signing seven new faces last summer, including Fabian Delph, Alex Iwobi, and Moise Kean. This is largely his squad.

The Portuguese always used a 4-2-3-1 with attacking full-backs in Lucas Digne and Seamus Coleman until the trip to Leicester, and he retained the newly-adopted back five for the ill-fated midweek trip to Liverpool.

Sometimes the Toffees try to draw a team on by passing around at the back, then switching the ball to use the strong running of their wide players, or forwards Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison, who is still scoring regularly.

Defensively under Silva they set up with a high defensive line to catch opponents offside, though Liverpool simply played long balls over the top, with great success.

Now they find themselves in the relegation zone, with a fifth more losses at home compared to last season, while scoring fewer goals and conceding a greater number. Of course losing Kurt Zouma, who returned home after a successful loan there, did not help Silva’s cause.

Silva’s assistant Duncan Ferguson has taken over in a temporary capacity until a permanent replacement has been found. As a combative striker, Ferguson faced Chelsea 16 times, losing nine, drawing five, and winning two.

FA Cup and Champions League catch-up

FA Cup opponents Nottingham Forest, fourth in the Championship, will spend Friday night at mid-table Millwall. Former Ivory Coast coach Sabri Lamouchi’s side are aiming for their sixth win away from home this season.

Buoyed by a 1-0 Ligue 1 victory at Lyon in midweek – their first on the road – tonight Lille host Brest at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, where their only defeats this season have come against Ajax and Chelsea.

Chelsea and the ‘new boss bounce’

Will Everton experience the ‘bounce’ that – folklore has it – accompanies the dismissal of a coach? On the 17 past occasions Chelsea have faced a freshly-installed coach, or one taking charge of a club in the Premier League for the first time (excluding the competition’s opening exchanges), we have never been beaten.

Three of the encounters ended in a draw, and 14 were victories for the Blues, including each of the past 12, and several brought resounding wins. The latest success was at former midfielder Scott Parker’s Fulham last season.

Busy run up to New Year

Next week, England’s seven European contestants will play their last fixtures before UEFA’s winter hibernation, but December remains a fixture-packed month, especially for league leaders Liverpool.

With additional commitments in the Carabao Cup and FIFA Club World Cup (including a possible final), the Reds may play two matches more than Chelsea before the turn of the year. Leicester, Manchester City, and Manchester United also remain in the Carabao Cup, with one-off quarter-finals taking place in the middle of the month.

Coming up

Next up at the Bridge in the Premier League are Bournemouth, who will be hoping to arrest a run of four straight losses when they host Liverpool on Saturday at 3pm.

Chelsea Women’s remaining fixtures of the first half of the WSL campaign are Manchester City at home on Sunday (a 12pm kick-off) and Liverpool away next weekend (2pm). Click to buy tickets to the City game.

Chelsea’s Under-18s Premier League campaign pauses for Christmas after Saturday, when the Blues, in second place with a game in hand, travel to bottom club Swansea for an 11am kick-off.

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Shifting fortunes

After a Chelsea 2-1 victory at Goodison Park in March 1969, the two royal blues of London and Merseyside had played each other 76 times in the league and could not be separated by any statistic: since their first meeting in 1907, both had managed 28 wins, 20 draws, 76 points, 127 goals for, and 127 against.

Last season the tally of those games reached 160. Chelsea have eased away, having now won 59 of these personal duels compared to Everton’s 51, with 50 drawn. The Londoners have scored 250 compared to the Merseysiders’ 235.

When Everton were saved by Chelsea

‘Intensive care is still needed at this famous football club,’ suggested commentator Martin Tyler, ‘but this crisis has been averted. The club that has spent more years than any other in the top division in England is still there … just.’

That was in May 1998 just after the Toffees had averted relegation on goal difference. And 1997/98 was actually the last Premier League season in which Everton accrued a lower total from the opening 15 games – 12 points – than the 14 they have now.

Never mind their motto ‘Nil Satis Nisi Optimum’, this was a ‘Tempus Horribilis’ for the Toffees. Their all-time great but ageing goalkeeper Neville Southall was dropped and promptly took himself off to Southend on loan, and Gary Speed being sold by under-pressure Howard Kendall after refusing to play at West Ham added to the sense of Armageddon on Gwladys Street.

Of course they actually have Chelsea to thank for their rescue. On the last day of the campaign Everton needed a better result at home to Coventry than relegation rivals Bolton managed at Stamford Bridge.

In presumably the only recorded example of the Goodison faithful acclaiming a Chelsea goal, reports of Gianluca Vialli’s opener at the Bridge, then Jody Morris’s second, were cheered to the antique rafters by Everton supporters. Ironically, Blues fans who wanted the Toffees to suffer the drop jokingly booed the second goal against the Trotters.

Premier League fixtures

SaturdayEverton v Chelsea 12.30pm (BT Sport)Bournemouth v Liverpool 3pmTottenham v Burnley 3pmWatford v Crystal Palace 3pmManchester City v Manchester United 5.30pm (Sky Sports)

SundayAston Villa v Leicester 2pm (Sky Sports)Newcastle v Southampton 2pmNorwich v Sheffield United 2pmBrighton v Wolves 4.30pm (Sky Sports)

MondayWest Ham v Arsenal 8pm (Sky Sports)