Dwight McNeil is a fitness doubt for Everton
Dwight McNeil is a fitness doubt for Everton (Image: Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
After a huge week off the field for Everton, it's back to on-the-pitch business today. The Blues welcome high-flying Chelsea to Goodison Park on the back of the club being taken over by The Friedkin Group and being handed the keys to its magnificent new stadium.
So while Chelsea, who could leapfrog leaders Liverpool with victory, will be favourites for the match, it will no doubt be a buoyant Blues side who take to the field for the big 2pm kick-off.
And it's also worth remembering the Stamford Bridge's outfit recent record in L4. They have lost five of their last six visits to Goodison and this afternoon's encounter will prove a lot about their title credentials.
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But enough about Chelsea. How should Everton boss Sean Dyche line-up? With a maximum of five players sidelined, our Blues writers have their say...
Joe Thomas
Everton earned a valuable point at Arsenal last week and they deserved it. It would be nice to see them pose more of an attacking threat against Chelsea, and I think Goodison Park will be the catalyst for more ambition.
Over recent years, Chelsea have been the opponent this club has risen to. Richarlison and his smoke bomb celebration, Jordan Pickford and THE greatest save of the Premier League era - that was the day the revival started as the first Goodison coach welcome of the Frank Lampard survival push reaped immediate dividends.
Last year there was that towering Jarrad Branthwaite performance in front of Gareth Southgate and the wonderful Lewis Dobbin goal celebration, a highlight of last season.
I don't think Sean Dyche can or will do much different on Sunday and I think the team that faced Arsenal deserves to get another go against further tough opposition - especially as Dwight McNeil is touch and go and Armando Broja unavailable. It is pretty straightforward to me as a result.
My team (4-5-1): Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Harrison, Gueye, Doucoure, Mangala, Ndiaye; Calvert-Lewin.
Paul Wheelock
A cloud has been lifted over the club and I'm sure I'm not the only person who can't wait to get to the game today. Everton, no doubt, will be the underdogs. Chelsea are developing into an excellent team and Enzo Maresca is proving to be an excellent coach.
But the men from Stamford Bridge have long struggled at Goodison Park and, combined with the feel-good factor that is flowing through the Everton fanbase following a huge week for the club, this feels like a match Sean Dyche should attack.
However no-one should forgot that is exactly what he attempted the last time these two teams met - and look how that ended up. So I would have no complaints with the Blues boss adopting a similar disciplined approach to the one utilised at Arsenal last weekend.
That said, with such a fired-up home crowd, a little more going the other way is going to be needed and that's why, if Dwight McNeil is fit, he comes back into an otherwise unchanged team, with Iliman Ndiaye shifting to the right.
My team (4-5-1): Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Ndiaye, Gueye, Doucoure, Mangala, McNeil; Calvert-Lewin.