The hard work continued at Cobham on Thursday as Enzo Maresca and his squad stepped up preparations for Saturday’s match against Everton.

The Toffees are the visitors to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League this weekend, as we look to cement our spot in the qualification places for next season’s Champions League.

With five games remaining in the domestic competition, the pressure and excitement is building for what looks set to be a thrilling conclusion to our campaign.

At Cobham, that means the Blues are hard at work ensuring the best possible chance of success in the close race for Europe, after getting back to winning ways with a thrilling derby victory at Fulham last time out.

After his late winner at Craven Cottage secured an important three points and a return to the Champions League qualification spots, Pedro Neto made it clear the team’s focus shifted straight to the next game and building momentum from that victory at the perfect time for the Premier League run-in.

‘It could be a good part of the season for us,’ said the winger. ‘We showed our character.

‘It’s not easy to spend all season in the top four and then be out of it before that game, but the character the team showed was really good.

‘The belief has always been there, even in the bad moments. Everyone has bad moments and what you have to do is continue like this. Now we have to think about Everton next and winning against them too.’

The Toffees are an opponent we have enjoyed good results against in recent years, especially at the Bridge, where we haven’t lost to Everton since 1994 – a run stretching back 29 games, our longest against any club in the top flight.

The Blues will be attempting to continue that record when we host Everton in an early 12.30pm Premier League kick-off on Saturday 26 April. The game will be shown live in the UK by TNT Sports and you can follow all the build-up, action and reaction throughout the day in our Chelsea vs Everton Match Centre.