It's back to the Bridge for an early one this Saturday after two games on the road. Chelsea have not lost to Everton in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge for 19 years and have the best unbeaten home record in the top flight. A third successive league victory against the Toffees at the Bridge would be our 66th in all competitions - the most achieved against any other club.

The Blues know retaining leadership of the Premier League can only be guaranteed by a win this weekend, and it will require a vast improvement on last Saturday's FA Cup exit at the Etihad to earn the three points.

This is Chelsea's fifth early kick-off in the league. The four matches so far have yielded seven points. Everton's record is five points from five games, the most recent was their last Premier League outing, a 0-1 defeat at Tottenham.

The Liverpudlians have yet to suffer back-to-back defeats under Roberto Martinez. The White Hart Lane game could have gone either way but was settled by Emmanuel Adebayor from a set-play that was not cleared.

Last season, some days after a memorable Europa League final game win in Amsterdam over Benfica, a Chelsea-Everton clash put an end to 2012/13 season. Fernando Torres scored the winner against the ‘Toffees’ on minute 75 breaking the 1-1 draw a few days after his also crucial strike in Amsterdam. That goal was his 23th of the season, second best goal-tally since the transfer from Atlético to Liverpool overcoming the 22 scored in 2008/10 season for Reds.

It was interesting to hear the Toffees manager's analysis in the TV studio after Manchester City's home defeat to Barcelona. He suggested that to be a goal and a man down with 40 minutes remaining against the Catalans presented 'an impossible mission.' Try 10 men, 0-2, 47 minutes, at Camp Nou - Chelsea managed a thrilling draw under just those circumstances scoring Torres a superb goal in the last stages of the game.

Champions League action returns to our calendars on Wednesday with the Türk Telekom Arena stadium our destination. Opponents Galatasaray, who qualified for the Round of 16 ahead of Juventus, are presently third in Turkey's Süper Lig.

They have slipped six points shy of scandal-hit rivals Fenerbahçe after successive draws home and away. Roberto Mancini's side play on Saturday evening at Rizespor, 1,000 kilometres away along the Black Sea shoreline.

In our FA Cup defeat, Man City's blank week seemed to hand them an extra sharpness from the off - their reaction to a dispiriting home loss to Barcelona will be informative when they host Stoke City's awkward squad.

Although many people, including Chelsea's manager, have suggested Liverpool's lack of European football hands them an advantage over their title rivals, history is against the Scousers.

No team since Leeds United in 1991/92 have been crowned champions in a season in which they had no UEFA competition involvement. Liverpool's year-on-year improvement would, in that sense, be unprecedented. Equally, the statistic indicates Europe may not be such of a costly distraction from league success.

Incidentally, after Wednesday's results, only two clubs this season have managed to beat Manchester City and Arsenal in their own stadium: Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

- Match preview by chelseafc.com (Rick Glanwill and Paul Dutton)