Mauricio Pochettino’s side are currently unbeaten in seven league outings – our best such run since December 2021 – while drawing four of the last eight.

The Blues are also unbeaten in nine Monday night fixtures stretching back to 2020, winning eight of them, including each of the last six.

The Londoners started the weekend in ninth and have played fewer games than each of the teams immediately above us in the table, so staking a claim for sixth place is within the team’s grasp.

The Toffees are without a win in 28 league visits to Stamford Bridge, stretching back 30 years.

Battered by points deductions and claiming just one league victory in three months, Sean Dyche’s team have gained three points more on the road than at Goodison Park (though from an extra game).

They entered this match week in 16th position, poised perilously above the relegation trapdoor.

FA Cup semi-finalists Chelsea have scored two or more goals in each of the past six matches on all fronts at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea team news

Mauricio Pochettino felt his team was lacking in two vital areas during the 2-0 loss in the reverse fixture - determination in the final third and concentration in our own goal area.

The second issue has still been evident in recent games – where Chelsea have allowed nine equalisers in the past seven games across all competitions.

However, Goodison in December remains the last blank in the league for the Blues, who are now seventh-highest goalscorers – with 17 more goals than last season already.

As a result, the Blues have netted and conceded two or more goals in each of the past five top-flight games – while being unbeaten since early February. Four more in this fixture would make it 300 against the Toffees across all competitions – our next highest tally being 274 versus Tottenham.

Cole Palmer continues to be Chelsea’s shining light, netting on six successive Premier League appearances at home - the youngest player since Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United (2006/07) to do so.

Only three players have scored more league goals (16) than the Wythenshawe wonder this season, with the same number bettering his record for assists (nine). His late strikes against Man Utd took our stoppage-time goals total to 11 – we recorded none last season.

Pochettino will hope the defence holds out more resolutely under the Toffees’ aerial bombardment than in recent games, although he could be without Axel Disasi and Enzo Fernandez, who both underwent medical assessments ahead of the fixture.

Goal contributions in all competitions 2023/24

Opposition scout - Everton

Everton may have flattered to deceive in beating Burnley last weekend, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s winner was well-earned. The previously barren striker’s second goal in as many games was the reward for charging down a dallying keeper.

He and Abdoulaye Doucoure up front are key to Dyche’s direct approach, the target of quick long passes and, despite injuries, Calvert-Lewin has won the most aerial duels in the top flight this season.

However, the Toffees have recorded the joint-fewest goals from open play in the top flight (along with Sheffield Utd).

They excel at attacking set-plays (only Arsenal have scored from more) and tend to be full of running for 90 minutes-plus. However, they’ve been outscored over away first halves this season by 12 goals to five.

With Beto leading the line at Old Trafford, they pressed Manchester United and may do the same at the Bridge, although Dyche will be wary of leaving exploitable space behind a high defensive line.

Against Burnley he picked a rarely-used back four of Seamus Coleman at right-back, Vitaliy Mykolenko on the left and James Tarkowski with highly-rated Jarrad Branthwaite as centre-backs. Goalie Jordan Pickford has racked up the greatest distance on forward passes in the league – 22,470 metres.

Striker Lewis Dobbin, regularly called off the bench, is ruled out, while Doucoure and Andre Gomes recently returned. Fellow midfielders Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana have also returned to training.

The history

Chelsea are unbeaten against Everton in the top flight at Stamford Bridge since November 1994 – a club-record run of 28 games (15 wins, 13 draws). The previous best was 27 in succession against Tottenham, between 1990 and 2016.

Numerically, the run against the Toffees is our longest ever, though four clubs’ last wins at the Bridge date back further: Fulham (March 1964), Watford (May 1986), Sheffield United (October 1992) and Norwich City (October 1993).

In February, Wolverhampton Wanderers ended a string of winless visits stretching back to 1979 and, prior to their success last season, Brighton had never beaten the Blues away in the league.

On the other hand, the Toffees recently matched their club record of 13 league matches without a win, set in 1957. Back then, the run ended with a 5-1 away win at Bolton on 26 December 1957.

The Toffees’ torment didn’t end there, though. Their first league fixture of 1958 was on 11 January at Stamford Bridge. Brilliant teenager Jimmy Greaves scored twice and Johnny McNichol added a third in a 3-1 victory.

The Merseysiders’ past two visits have ended in score draws, but prior to that they had failed to score in five, four of those being Chelsea wins.

The most famous among those was the Londoners’ 5-0 victory of November 2016 under Antonio Conte – hailed by veteran broadcaster John Motson as: ‘the best 90-minute performance I have ever seen in the Premier League’ and ‘just out of this world’.

Eden Hazard was at his impish best, and his second early goal – after a one-two of backheels – epitomised the ingenuity and ebullience of the rampaging hosts. It was also the first time Everton had conceded five goals in a top-flight fixture since 30 August 2014 – Chelsea’s 6-3 win at Goodison Park.

Best behaviour required

Following his caution during the defeat of Manchester United, Moises Caicedo joined Nicolas Jackson on the disciplinary tightrope of nine yellow cards.

Each has to reach the end of the 32nd Premier League fixture of the season – Arsenal away – without a 10th card to avoid a two-game league suspension.

Our Senegal forward was most recently booked back in mid-February at Crystal Palace, while four of the Ecuador international’s cautions have come since that game.

Push for Europe

Despite the setback at Bramall Lane last weekend, Chelsea’s unbeaten run and consistent scoring has put us in a position to challenge for one of the European places if results improve.

With games in hand on those above, the Blues’ maximum available points is 68, the same as Newcastle United and two fewer than Man United.

However, using points-per-game earned by the clubs over the past eight matches as a guide and projecting them across remaining fixtures, puts Newcastle up to sixth on 59 points, Man Utd seventh with 59 and Chelsea eighth on 57, the same total as West Ham United.

The fight for European places