Goodison View: How Everton have changed since last visiting Stamford Bridge
Everton will face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this evening exactly one year since they last faced the Blues away from home in what was a crushing 4-0 defeat.
Carlo Ancelotti admitted “everything was wrong” in a game he described as being his first disappointment with his team since arriving as Everton boss several months prior [BBC Sport].
Goals from Mason Mount, Pedro, Willian and Olivier Giroud ensured that Everton remained in the bottom half of the Premier League table, sitting 12th behind Burnley and Crystal Palace, which indicates just how far the club have come this season.
Everton head into this evening’s game in fifth place, just one point and one place behind Chelsea with a game in hand.
Though Ancelotti had the benefit of managing Everton from the start this season, compared to the club’s struggles under Marco Silva during the previous campaign, the Italian has completely revamped how the club approach big games.
Everton have faced the traditional top six eight times this season in the league, losing just twice (to Manchester United and Manchester City), both games of which contributed to the club’s horrific home form.
By and large though the Blues have been able to rise to the occasion this season, with the highlight being their 2-0 win against Liverpool at Anfield, ending a winless run that stretched back to 1999.
Chelsea have improved defensively since Thomas Tuchel succeeded Frank Lampard as manager, and though they’re not yet freely scoring goals under the German, that isn’t to say his side couldn’t dismantle Everton this evening.
Whether they do or not isn’t really the point – the point is that the club have changed under Ancelotti enough that games against the top six no longer feel like foregone conclusions.
The Toffees have every chance of securing their fourth consecutive win in the Premier League against Chelsea because they both have the talent to do so and the belief that they have it in them.
Ancelotti has changed Everton in so many ways, and the antithesis behind March 8 this year and March 8 last year could not symbolise that more.
In other Everton news, former Blues boss Roberto Martinez has labelled Everton a ‘very special club’.