Everton haven’t exactly set the pitch alight in their past few games in the Premier League, however they head into Monday’s clash with Chelsea on a three-game winning run.

Though the Blues’ performance levels have been inconsistent this season they have played entertaining football on occasion, with Lucas Digne often one of the beating hearts in those games.

The French full-back has become a crucial player for Everton, both defensively and especially offensively. However, he’ll have to ensure he is doing both well against Chelsea.

Everton

WyScout stats see Digne [5.66] behind only Trent Alexander-Arnold [6.76] in crosses made per 90 minutes this season, indicating the threat that the former Barcelona man poses when he advances forward.

Everton will need to make sure that Digne reigns in it when required against Chelsea however, with opposing full-back Reece James also prone to surging forward.

The left graphic highlights Digne’s heat-map in Premier League games throughout the current campaign, while the right graphic shows James’ heat-map.

Both players arguably spend just as much time in their opponents half than they do their own, and with Chelsea having pace on the right through James and Callum Hudson-Odoi, Digne must not get caught up field.

Behind Alexander-Arnold and Digne, Hudson-Odoi has delivered the third most crosses per 90 minutes this season [5.52], while Hudson-Odoi and James rank second and third respectively in crossed delivered to the six yard box [1.02 and 0.99 respectively].

With Thomas Tuchel preferring a three-man defensive unit with wing-backs either side, Carlo Ancelotti could revert to a similar formation to counteract Chelsea’s speed – he’s made such a change before.

If the Italian does make such a tactical alteration, Digne (and to a lesser extend Mason Holgate) will have to wary of the space that they vacate when surging forward.