Everton v Chelsea: Match Preview

Can Everton cope without Colombian ace?

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

Everton face in-form Chelsea this evening in the Premier League without their Colombian star forward James Rodriguez. So, can the Toffees find a way to win without him?

Rodriguez isn’t the only major absentee with Everton also missing both first-choice full-backs Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne.

Digne’s injury recently sustained in training is a very irritating problem and has left the Frenchman out of action probably until February at least, possibly later.

Coleman’s injury problems have been long-standing with the Irish international having struggled for fitness since he got hurt in the Merseyside derby back in October. That game also saw Rodriguez sustaining a knock early on in the match when he clashed with Virgil Van Dijk.

He played on for the rest of that game, but then missed the defeat at Southampton that followed and I don’t think he has ever really been properly fit since then.

The constant round-robin of matches this season with two international breaks compressed into a hectic Premier League schedule, hasn’t given him enough time to fully recover. Now he’s out again for this game and maybe more, who knows?

It’s a problem that shouldn’t surprise anyone really given that the former Real Madrid player has a long track record of injuries.

Can Everton cope without him? The short answer is no as there’s no one else who can provide the flair that Rodriguez offers. According to Whoscored.com, the South American playmaker averages 2.5 key passes per game making him one of the most creative players around.

But having said all that perhaps the loss of the full-backs and the wider defensive problems that points to, is even more worrying. Digne is the Blues leader in assists so far this season with 4 and his quality and experience make him arguably the best all-round full-back in the Premier League.

Coleman looked like a man reborn early on in the season playing behind Rodriguez, but since he got injured in October, he’s been a shadow of that player again.

These injuries together with the problems Everton already have conceding goals, mean that the Blues have been letting in an average of over 1.6 goals per game in the Premier League and only three teams in the league have conceded more.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti has tried all sorts of formations and line-ups without much success and if Everton can’t sort out these defensive problems it will undermine their season.

Chelsea after a shaky start have been in good form recently and have scored 25 goals, only Liverpool have scored more. They are also very good at set-pieces an area where the Toffees have been weak for a long time.

So, with that and the Blues poor recent form, this all points to a very tough test for Everton tonight and to be honest I can’t see the home team winning this one! Well as Evertonians we always live in hope and maybe the return of a small group of fans to the grand old lady might help the team.