Which Chelsea players do the Toffees need to watch?

Everton v Chelsea

By Matt Townsend: On The Banks Of The Royal Blue Mersey Journalist

As the Blues take on Chelsea today who are the opposition players that Everton need to subdue if they are to win tonight?

Chelsea have scored plenty of goals but have spread those around the team with on one bearing the main brunt of finding the net, unlike Everton where Dominic Calvert-Lewin is the key goal-threat.

There are three I think that the home team really have to watch in tonight’s match.

The first is Mason Mount. The young England midfielder has been making rapid progress over the past few seasons and he’s become a dangerous and effective attacking player.

He’s played in a number of positions although his best seems to be operating in a deeper play-maker type role in midfield where he can provide the kind of quality balls for the other attackers to use.

Mount has netted once and made 3 assists, not jaw-dropping numbers but the sign if a versatile and potent attacker.

And there’s plenty of talented forwards for him to supply. One of them is Timo Werner. The German international has been in form and is the team’s joint-leading scorer with 4 goals and has the most assists with 3. He’s a player who both scores himself and creates goals for others.

Werner is a very dangerous threat to the Everton goal and will need very tight marking and constant vigilance and concentration from the home team’s defenders.

The final player I wanted to highlight is actually an ex-Everton defender: Kurt Zouma. The Frenchman had a season on-loan at Goodison Park in 2018-19 season and after a difficult start eventually struck up a solid partnership with Michael Keane in the centre of the Toffees defence.

Everton’s management tried to make that move permanent following that campaign but it didn’t happen and he stayed at Stamford Bridge.

This season he has found himself back in the middle of the Chelsea defence and he’s been very solid as part of a Chelsea backline that started poorly but has since become much stronger.

He will prove a considerable barrier for the Toffees attack to get past, but perhaps the biggest contribution he could make to his team’s cause will be in the home team’s penalty area.

Remarkably despite all the huge amounts of money spent on forward talent, Zouma is Chelsea’s join-leading goalscorer. He wouldn’t have been many people’s lists to be in that position.

He’s obviously a major set-piece threat and Everton’s centre-backs whoever they are tonight will have to be strong and determined to nullify this threat.