Nineteen days after our last league fixture, Chelsea return to the north-west again. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton get set for September’s first challenge…
TALKING POINTS
Saturday evening’s return to club action pits Jose Mourinho against Roberto Martínez, another manager (like Steve Bruce and David Moyes already this season) who is no novice to the Premier League but will face the Blues for the first time with his current club.
Against Chelsea to date, Martínez has one win and one draw stacked up against six defeats, including the famous 8-0 of 2010, when tactical novelty was undone by a red card. Those games were with Wigan, where he delivered the club’s first major silverware in the FA Cup last season on a very tight budget. Despite his reputation for expansive football, though, the Spanish manager’s league record is not so impressive.
At Swansea between 2007 and 2009 he earned promotion from League One and ended eighth in the Championship. From 2009 he steered Wigan to 16th in successive top-flight campaigns, then 15th and finally 18th – and relegated.
Nine-times English champions Everton, who presently lie 15th and could slip as low as 18th before the 5.30pm kick-off, have expectations above those of the lowly Latics but with a similarly tight purse-string. Since switching to Merseyside, Martinez has posted three successive draws in the league, including two 0-0s. Visitors Chelsea, who recently held Man United to the same scoreline at Old Trafford, were the only team from the capital with the recipe to beat Moyes’s Toffees last season.
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KEY STAT |
Having counted the players out and counted them back in again, we can set the stress of international games and the inevitable injuries to one side until mid-October, returning to the relative bliss of domestic football.
One traveller in particular deserves congratulations. New England caps centurion Frank Lampard joins 10 other current or former Chelsea players to have reached that international milestone.
| 1 | Geremi | Cameroon | 118 |
| 2 | Marcel Desailly | France | 116 |
| 3 | Samuel Eto’o | Cameroon | 113 |
| 4 | Andriy Shevchenko | Ukraine | 111 |
| 5 | Mark Schwarzer | Australia | 109 |
| 6 | Fernando Torres | Spain | 106 |
| 7 | Ashley Cole | England | 105 |
| 8 | Didier Deschamps | France | 103 |
| 9 | Petr Cech | Czech Republic | 103 |
| 10 | Damien Duff | Republic of Ireland | 100 |
| 11 | Frank Lampard | England | 100 |
It is interesting to note that just two of the XI have represented England, though that represents a quarter of the country’s total of eight. The Chelsea centurions would make a pretty tasty team – providing Mark Schwarzer is happy to fill in at centre-back.
Lampard, Chelsea’s record goalscorer, was unable to add to his international tally against Ukraine but Everton are one of the sides against whom he hits the net with regularity. He managed a vital brace in the 2-1 win at Goodison last Christmas.
This weekend and Wednesday’s Champions League opener against Basel may offer Chelsea supporters first sight of transfer deadline arrivals Willian and Samuel Eto’o. First sight in the right shirt, that is: both have played against the Blues.
Willian scored twice for Shakhtar in a 3-2 Chelsea home win; his new teammate Eto’o (pronounced ‘Ay-toh’) netted three times in eight matches with Inter and Barça, four of them at the Bridge. (To sugar that pill, the Cameroonian also hit three in two against Spurs.)
Equally, if not more important, the international break gave back-to-back Player of the Year Juan Mata the chance to approach full fitness after niggling injuries. He joined the likes of John Terry, Cesar Azpilicueta, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba, who remained behind to work with Mourinho ahead of this weekend’s match.
Brazil’s fixtures enabled David Luiz to prove his fitness since Chelsea’s last domestic action. Disappointingly, Marouane Fellaini’s departure has prevented the chance of an Afro hair-off with our Brazilian central defender.
Barclays Premier League fixtures
Saturday
Manchester United v Crystal Palace 12.45pm – BT Sport
Aston Villa v Newcastle 3pm
Fulham v West Brom 3pm
Hull v Cardiff 3pm
Stoke v Manchester City 3pm
Sunderland v Arsenal 3pm
Tottenham v Norwich 3pm
Everton v Chelsea 5.30pm – Sky Sports
Sunday
Southampton v West Ham 4pm – Sky Sports
Monday
Swansea v Liverpool 8pm – Sky Sports
| Top | Pld | Gd | Pts | |
| 1 | Liverpool | 3 | +3 | 9 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 3 | +3 | 7 |
| 3 | Man City | 3 | +5 | 6 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 3 | +1 | 6 |
| 5 | Stoke | 3 | +1 | 6 |
| 6 | Tottenham | 3 | +1 | 6 |
| 15 | Everton | 3 | 0 | 3 |
CHELSEA STATS
Chelsea are unbeaten in the Barclays Premier League in 11 games, winning 27 points from the last 33.
We have won three and drawn two of our last five away top-flight league games.
| Aug 7 | Real Madrid (Miami) | L 1-3 |
| Aug 10 | Roma (Washington DC) | W 2-1 |
| Aug 18 | Hull City (h) | W 2-0 |
| Aug 21 | Aston Villa (h) | W 2-1 |
| Aug 26 | Manchester United (a) | D 0-0 |
| Aug 30 | Bayern Munich (Super Cup) lost 4-5 on pens | D 2-2 |
Premier League scorers (4)
Ivanovic 1, Lampard 1, Oscar 1, own goal 1
League games since
An away win: 1
An away draw: 0
An away defeat: 5
| Wed 18 Sep | FC Basel home | 7.45pm |
| Sat 21 Sep | Fulham home | 5.30pm |
| Tue 24 Sep | Swindon (Capital One Cup) away | 7.45pm |
MILESTONES
If selected, Cesar Azpilicueta will make his 50th Chelsea appearance.
EVERTON STATS
Formed 1878
Major trophies
9 League championships, last in 1987
5 FA Cups, last in 1995
1 European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1985
9 FA Charity Shields (1 shared), last in 1995
Last season
Premier League – sixth
FA Cup – quarter-final
Capital One Cup – third round
Everton have not lost at home in the Premier League in 2013. Since our win there last December, the Toffees have taken 24 out of a possible 30 points at Goodison Park.
Everton used 23 players in the Premier League last season – fewer than any other club.
Roberto Martinez has won one of his last 11 games as a manager in the Premier League with Wigan and Everton.
Everton gained 22 points from losing positions last season, the third best record in the top flight.
Last season’s Premier League stats
Most starts: Baines 38, Howard 36, Jagielka 36, Osman 36
Most goals: Fellaini 11, Jelavic 7, Anichebe 6, Mirallas 6, Pienaar 6
Manager Roberto Martinez
Days in charge: 101
Played 4
Won 1
Drawn 3
Lost 0
| 2003/04 | 39 | 17th |
| 2004/05 | 61 | 4th |
| 2005/06 | 50 | 11th |
| 2006/07 | 58 | 6th |
| 2007/08 | 65 | 5th |
| 2008/09 | 63 | 5th |
| 2009/10 | 61 | 8th |
| 2010/11 | 54 | 7th |
| 2011/12 | 56 | 7th |
| 2012/13 | 63 | 6th |
| 6 Aug | Valencia (n) | L 0-1 |
| 11 Aug | Real Betis (h) | W 2-1 |
| 17 Aug | Norwich (a) | D 2-2 |
| 24 Aug | West Brom (h) | D 0-0 |
| 28 Aug | Stevenage (Capital One Cup home) | W 2-1 aet |
| 31 Aug | Cardiff (a) | D 0-0 |
Premier League scorers (2)
Barkley 1, Coleman 1
League games since
A home win: 1
A home draw: 0
A home defeat: 10
SUMMER MOVES
Chelsea
Ins Andre Schürrle (Bayer Leverkusen, undisclosed), Marco van Ginkel (Vitesse Arnhem, undisclosed), Mark Schwarzer (Fulham, free), Cristian Cuevas (O’Higgins, undisclosed), Stipe Perica (NK Zadar, undisclosed), Willian (Anzhi Makhachkala, undisclosed), Samuel Eto’o (Anzhi Makhachkala, undisclosed), Christian Atsu (Porto, undisclosed)
Outs Amin Affane (released, now Energie Cottbus), Yossi Benayoun (released), Aziz Deen-Conteh (released), Paulo Ferreira (retired), Florent Malouda (released, now Trabzonspor), Archange Nkumu (released), Ross Turnbull (released, now Doncaster), Jeffrey Bruma (PSV, undisclosed), George Saville (Brentford, loan), Thibaut Courtois (Atlético Madrid, loan), Todd Kane (Blackburn, loan), Marko Marin (Sevilla, loan), Patrick Bamford (MK Dons, loan), Oriol Romeu (Valencia, loan), Milan Lalkovic (Walsall, loan), Danny Pappoe (Colchester, loan), Sam Walker (Colchester, loan), Patrick van Aanholt (Vitesse Arnhem, loan), Gael Kakuta (Vitesse Arnhem, loan), Thorgan Hazard (Zulte Waregem, loan), Matej Delac (FK Vojvodina, loan), Jhon Pirez (Leganes, loan), Lucas Piazon (Vitesse Arnhem, loan), Wallace (Inter Milan, loan), Cristian Cuevas (Vitesse Arnhem, loan), Stipe Perica (NAC Breda, loan), Christian Atsu (Vitesse Arnhem, loan), Victor Moses (Liverpool, loan), Ulises Davila (Cordoba, loan), Sam Hutchinson (Vitesse Arnhem, loan), Romelu Lukaku (Everton, loan), Anjur Osmanovic (released).
Everton
Ins Arouna Kone (Wigan, £6m), Antolin Alcarez (Wigan, free), Joel Robles (Real Madrid, £2m), Gerard Deulofeu (Barcelona, loan), James McCarthy (Wigan, £13m), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea, loan), Gareth Barry (Man City, loan)
Outs Thomas Hitzlsperger, released, now retired), Jan Mucha (released, now Kryliya Sovetov Samara), Jake Bidwell, Brentford, undisclosed), Conor McAleny (Brentford, loan), Marouane Fellaini, Man Utd, £27.5m), Victor Anichebe (West Brom, £6m), Phil Neville (released, now Man Utd first team coach).
THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE
The referee is Howard Webb, who handled five Chelsea matches last season, including our 2-1 win in this fixture on 30 December 2012.
OTHERWISE ENGAGED
There are no suspensions. Romelu Lukaku is not eligible under the terms of his loan.
– Visit again tomorrow for Part Two of the Briefing.