Chelsea visits Everton on Thursday with Premier League title hopes still barely alive despite coming off a disappointing 1-1 draw with Wigan on Monday.
The Blues - +100 on WagerWeb.com for Thursday's match, with an over/under of 2 - are five points adrift of Manchester United with four matches to play; Chelsea plays Man U on April 26 - a date on which the Red Devils could clinch the title.
"We need to win the games against Everton and Manchester United," Chelsea coach Avram Grant. "If not, it will be more difficult. ... I will not give up until it is over and we will keep fighting - but we need one more bad result off Manchester United."
The Blues are on their longest unbeaten streak of the season, winning 12 and drawing five since losing to Arsenal on Dec. 16.
Still, Grant was vilified by Blues fans after the Wigan draw.
"We feel pressure all the time but it is a good pressure - I don't want to live without this pressure," he aid.
Everton (+230 for the match on WagerWeb.com), which has won only once in the past five games, needs a win to close the gap on Liverpool to two points in the race for fourth spot and the final qualifying place
for the Champions League.
The Toffees haven't allowed more than a goal in 14 matches, but they haven't scored more than one in the past six.
Chelsea will be without two key players: striker Didier Drogba (knee injury) and midfielder Frank Lampard (family illness).Petr Cech, who returned to action against Wigan wearing a chin strap to protect 50 stitches in a facial wound, will retain his place in goal."We have a difficult game at Everton, but if we beat them we cut the gap to two points. We're not throwing the towel in yet," Cech said. "United have four games to play and they have to come to Stamford Bridge, so it is a must win game for us, but every game is a must win game and we just need to make sure we keep winning."
Meanwhile, Everton boss David Moyes has admitted there is only a slim chance midfielders Mikel Arteta and Leon Osman will play Thursday.
Arteta is out with stomach muscle problems, while Osman is recovering from a hamstring strain.Moyes raised the complaint of the match being rescheduled to a Thursday night to accommodate television.
"We were not expecting to play on a Thursday night and I am sure Chelsea was not either," he said.
Everton could receive a boost for the game, hoping that by then South Africa midfielder Steven Pienaar will have made permanent his loan move from German club Borussia Dortmund.
In addition, American goalkeeper Tim Howard can equal Neville Southall's Everton record of 15 clean sheets in a league season if he denies Chelsea.
However, Everton has a fairly woeful record against Chelsea, having not beaten it in 14 attempts in the Premier League. The Toffees' last victory came back in 2000 at home when they won 2-1.
Earlier this season they held the Blues to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. The last time the two sides met, which was in the Carling Cup in January, Chelsea squeaked out a 1-0 win.
No comments:
Post a Comment