Everton vs Chelsea: 3 key battles that hold key to the matchÂ
Sixth-placed Premier League side Chelsea will travel to Goodison Park to play Everton on Sunday in a vital clash in the race for Champions League football next season. With Manchester United and Arsenal not playing this week, Maurizio Sarri's men have a golden chance to climb into the Champions League positions.
Everton comes into this game on the back of a narrow 3-2 loss to Newcastle United at Tyneside and will be looking to get a win against Chelsea and get their campaign back on track. However, this looks improbable as the Toffees have not won against the Blues in their last six meeting and last tasted victory against them in March 2016. What is a matter of further embarrassment is that in four of those last six meetings, Everton had failed to score a single goal.
However, a resurgence in the form of Brazilian Richarlison and the ever Dependable Gylfi Sigurdsson could mean that Marco Silva's men prove threatening to Chelsea on Sunday. We pick out three crucial battles which will decide where this game goes.
#3 Richarlison vs Emerson
Brazilian wonderkid Richarlison hit the Premier League running at the start of the season but has hit a loss in form lately. He redeemed himself against Newcastle when he a scored goal from close range and gave some hope to his team. On Sunday, Richarlison will be up against Emerson who has replaced first-choice left-back Marcos Alonso over the last few weeks.
Although he has started only three games so far in the Premier League, Emerson will not give Richarlison space to roam freely and act upon every tiny error made by him. It will be a good contest between the two and stopping him will be Chelsea's biggest task of the day.