Something has to change if Chelsea are to sustain the pressure on the top two: three times the Blues have returned from Goodison Park without any points. The Londoners, though, are in fine form again, similar to the start of the season.

In fact, outside of grim November and a few days at either end, Chelsea have dropped just two points in the league.

This match marks the halfway point of the campaign. It is a curiosity that our first league double came against Norwich even before we have played either Southampton or today's opponents once. With 35 points, the champions of Europe now have the same tally as all the bottom three Premier League clubs combined.

There is no respite from the present hectic schedule for a while. Following this trip the Blues have weekend and midweek games up till 12 January.

Team top-scorer Fernando Torres returns to the Beatles’ town. In Goodison Park teh Spaniard will try to extend his 14 goals account at a pitch in which he records good figures. At the 08-09 season, Fernando got to score a great double that decided the local derby for the Reds (0-2). However, in his last visit with Chelsea the last February they ended with the same numbers, although on the opposite, that is, in favor of Everton (2-0).

Glancing back at the Boxing Day game, at 17 years and 10 months old when he came on at Norwich, Nathan Ake is our youngest debutant since Josh McEachran made his first team bow in 2010 (aged 17 years, six months).

The impressive youngster from the Netherlands wore Chelsea's highest squad number yet in an official match: 57.

The Blues of London and Merseyside have been playing each other since 1907/08, when 50,000 at the Bridge watched a brace for Jimmy Windridge overcome Booth's equaliser for the Toffeemen,and a hat-trick for 'Gatling Gun' George Hilsdon earned a 3-0 victory at Goodison Park in front of 10,000 on Merseyside.

Everton are the side we beat at Villa Park to reach the FA Cup final for the first time in 1915. Successes in the league at Goodison have never come easily. Chelsea's biggest margin of victory remains that 1908 3-0, though we finished with the larger share of seven goals in December 1984 thanks largely to three goals from Gordon Davies.

London also brought home the bacon in November 1989 thanks to a side under Scouser Bobby Campbell that included Tony Dorigo, Kenny Monkou, Kerry Dixon and a Hazard from seasons past, Micky.

The two teams faced each other as title challengers, with the recently promoted southern Blues top of the table. Colin Harvey's side had been humbled 0-6 by Aston Villa the week before. Harvey revealed his team were nervous about facing their supporters, though former Chelsea man Pat Nevin had more reason than most to welcome the fixture.

As it turned out, Harvey was right to be apprehensive. 'With [Graham] Roberts acting as the spare man in defence and Hazard as the spare man in attack,' observed The Times, 'they were were comprehensively superior at Goodison Park.' Roberts's sweeper role allowed full-backs Dorigo and Steve Clarke to raid forward more than usually, and Hazard caused the Toffees untold trouble roving behind Dixon and Kevin Wilson.

The only goal of the game came when a loose ball fell to Clarke on the edge of the box and he fired an angled shot past Neville Southall. It was one of three the current West Brom manager would score that season for Chelsea and a vital one. His match-winning performance earned a recall to the Scotland squad.

Everton have beaten Chelsea in the last three meetings in the Premier League at Goodison Park, although we were victorious there in last season's Carling Cup

Our last league victory at Goodison Park was in April 2008 when a first-half Michael Essien goal secured the three points.


- Match preview by chelseafc.com