Everton travel to Chelsea at the weekend in the Premier League knowing that they could end the weekend in fourth in the league table.
Everton’s 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the Hill Dickinson Stadium at the weekend momentarily moved them up to fifth in the Premier League, and although results elsewhere have seen them drop to seventh, they have the chance to avenge that in the coming days.
It’s always a tough trip to Chelsea. Everton haven’t won at Stamford Bridge in the league since 1994, just two years into the Premier League’s inception, marking over three decades of gloom on the journey back up from the capital.
But David Moyes’ men have been given hope by Joe Cole, with experienced stars playing a part in a potential win – as the Stamford Bridge hero stated that Chelsea’s youthful side are struggling in certain scenarios this season.
Newcastle United FC v AFC Bournemouth - Premier League
Photo by Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth/AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images
Joe Cole says Chelsea’s lack of experience could play into Everton’s hands
Speaking on TNT Sports after Chelsea’s loss to Atalanta, Joe Cole admitted that although Chelsea have the quality to beat teams such as Barcelona as they showed two weeks ago, their experience can only carry them so far through the campaign.
And the same has run true in recent weeks, with their win over the Blaugrana being their last win in all competitions, going four games without a win since.
Everton last won a league game at Stamford Bridge in 1994… Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall wasn’t even born yet. 😳 How is this still a thing?
An overview of Everton's Premier League record against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Credit: Getty Images/Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth.
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Speaking after Chelsea’s defeat, Cole said: “I look at the Barcelona and Arsenal performance, the team got praised to the hilt, and rightly so.
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“And then I go back to the next phase, when you go to [Leeds United’s] Elland Road. Of course the coaching staff will have done their homework, but it’s something about having an experienced person in the fire.
“They have to learn to deal with those moments. You can’t be brittle. You need to be a bit more consistent, and that’s the next stage for this group.”
Chelsea’s transfer strategy has been to buy some of the top young stars in the country and whilst they are looking on the up, it could propose problems in the here and now, which Everton could look to take advantage of.
Everton have a clear advantage over Chelsea when it comes to experience
Chelsea have by far the youngest squad in the league. Their average squad age is just 23.3 years old, much lower than next-best Tottenham Hotspur, who boast a 24.7 average.
Everton, by contrast, have the third-oldest squad in the entire Premier League. Only Fulham, the leaders in that metric at 27.4, and Aston Villa at 27.3, are older than Everton, who boast a 27.0 year old average squad age.
Are you expecting Everton to make it five wins from six on Saturday? 🤩
Jack Grealish warms-up ahead of Everton vs Nottingham Forest.
Credit: Getty Images/Naomi Baker.
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Seamus Coleman, although currently injured, has 372 Premier League appearances to his name, whilst leading Premier League goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski have also broken into the ‘300 Club’ with 339 and 318 top-flight appearances respectively.
Michael Keane, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Dwight McNeil and Jack Grealish also have over 200 top-flight appearances to their name, meaning that David Moyes has a vast amount of top-flight experience in his squad – and that could be enough to end Everton’s poor record away at Chelsea despite the Blues boasting a lot of quality.
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