With their heads now above water, Everton seek a third successive Premier League victory when Chelsea make the trek to Goodison Park for Sunday's intriguing contest.
Sean Dyche's side cruised past Newcastle United 3-0 on Thursday evening, one day after the Blues' inconsistency continued in a 2-1 loss to Manchester United.
Match preview
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Five days after coming up with the only goal of the contest against Nottingham Forest, Dwight McNeil came up with a similar effort to break the deadlock during Thursday's visit of Newcastle, electing not to slip through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and instead picking out the far corner with aplomb.
McNeil's 79th-minute opener sparked a late goalscoring frenzy for the Toffees, who enjoyed the sweet taste of a three-goal victory as Abdoulaye Doucoure and Beto also put their names in flashing lights at Goodison Park, where Dyche's team continued to shine in the face of adversity.
While the anger from their 10-point deduction remains prevalent, Everton have remarkably lifted themselves over the relegation line into 17th place, although they remain at risk of being caught by both Luton Town and Burnley should results not go their way this weekend.
However, results have traditionally gone Everton's way for the past several weeks, as the Toffees' winter revival has seen them win five, draw one and lose one of their last seven matches in all competitions, only failing to earn any points against Man United in that time.
Thursday's trouncing of Newcastle marked just Everton's second win of the new Premier League term at Goodison Park - Bournemouth also went down 3-0 to Dyche's charges in October - but the Toffees are now on the verge of winning three Premier League games in a row for the first time since the days of Carlo Ancelotti in March 2021.
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The Toffees coincidentally kept clean sheets in all of those encounters too, keeping Liverpool, Southampton and West Bromwich Albion at bay, which is what Chelsea were unable to achieve when they visited Old Trafford - also known as Scott McTominay's playground - on Wednesday.
The Blues were briefly indebted to Robert Sanchez for stopping a tame Bruno Fernandes penalty, but McTominay's fourth and fifth goals of the season - which came either side of a well-taken Cole Palmer equaliser - deservedly got the Red Devils over the line at the Theatre of Dreams.
Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino admitted that his side were severely lacking in energy as they returned to losing ways, having restored a small sense of pride by besting Brighton & Hove Albion after being swept aside by Newcastle, and they remain firmly in mid-table obscurity in 10th place.
Spending countless millions on defensive reinforcements has not had the desired effect for Chelsea, who have gone without a clean sheet in eight Premier League games - conceding multiple times in six of them - and it has been over a year since the Blues won an away Premier League game on a Sunday, overcoming Aston Villa 2-0 in October 2022.
Everton's four-game winning run against Chelsea at Goodison Park was brought to an end in a 1-0 loss on the opening day of the 2022-23 season, when Blues legend Frank Lampard was at the Toffees' helm, but Ellis Simms's dramatic late leveller saw Everton walk away from Stamford Bridge with a creditable 2-2 draw nine months back.
Team News
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With James Garner coming down with an illness on the morning of their win over Newcastle, Dyche fast-tracked Seamus Coleman's return to the starting XI after a seven-month absence for his captain, although he was unable to complete the contest due to a small knock.
Coleman would not have been expected to complete the full 90 anyway, and with Garner fighting a battle to recover from his bug in time for Sunday, Nathan Patterson might be called upon to fill the void here.
Dele Alli is stepping up his recovery from a groin operation but will not be involved just yet, while Amadou Onana (calf) and Andre Gomes (fitness) are on Dyche's touch-and-go list at the time of writing, and Jordan Pickford will also need a knee niggle looked at.
As for the ravaged Blues, Pochettino did not sustain any fresh concerns during their midweek beating at Old Trafford, and the Chelsea boss can now call upon Conor Gallagher once again following his one-game suspension.
Romeo Lavia (ankle) and Christopher Nkunku (knee) may also be given the go-ahead to make their long-awaited debuts - the latter's chances are slim, though - but Wesley Fofana (knee), Trevoh Chalobah (thigh), Carney Chukwuemeka (knee), Ben Chilwell (thigh), Malo Gusto (tendon), Noni Madueke (unspecified) and Lesley Ugochukwu (unspecified) are all unavailable.
Wednesday's affair also saw Marc Cucurella and Reece James return to the fold from their own bans, but the former was taken off for the latter during the half-time break and will surely cede his place in the first XI to the club captain at Goodison.
Everton possible starting lineup:
Pickford; Patterson, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Young, Gueye, Doucoure, McNeil; Harrison; Calvert-Lewin
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Sanchez; James, Disasi, Silva, Colwill; Caicedo, Fernandez; Sterling, Gallagher, Palmer; Jackson
We say: Everton 1-1 Chelsea
With a permeable backline and wholly inconsistent attack, Chelsea certainly do not head to Merseyside as the favourites, especially given their recent unsuccessful travails at Goodison Park too.
Hopes of a third successive victory are not totally unfounded for the Everton faithful, but on this occasion, we can envisage the two clubs cancelling one another out as Chelsea's indifferent streak continues.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
