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Chelsea have a chance to get back on track against Everton

By on September 10, 2015

This weekend, while most eyes are focused on clash between the Manchester United and Liverpool, on the very same day Chelsea’s must-win matchup with Everton could hold even greater title implications, to the extent that any matchup can have such significance this early in the season.

Perhaps even more so than Rodgers or Van Gaal in the headline match, Jose Mourinho’s job has come under scrutiny after having taken just four points from Chelsea’s opening four games. Although both United and Liverpool’s opening four games of the league have been characterized as tepid at best, at least each club went into the international break with seven points.

For The Blues, by contrast, a disjointed loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield was amplified as the Premier League season got underway, with Mourinho’s men tying Swansea City on the opening weekend and then losing comprehensively to Manchester City 3-0. They have struggled to control games and in the process, it is becoming clear that some older squad members such as title winning lynchpins John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic are having trouble maintaining the level to which they consistently performed last season (although that could easily be said of numerous other Chelsea starters). Others seem to have aged years over the course of the summer. Whatever their problems have been, Mourinho’s antics — first lashing out at his medical staff and then criticizing one unnamed player as Chelsea lost to Crystal Palace — have only served to magnify them.

The international break was the perfect pause for Mourinho to take a step back and assess his team. Pedro, a potentially critical late signing from Barcelona, has been a bright spot in his first two starts for The Blues, scoring in his debut against West Bromwich Albion (Chelsea’s only win of the season so far) and assisting Chelsea’s only goal against Palace the next weekend.

As Roberto Martinez noted in his pre-match press conference, Chelsea still have a lineup stocked with players who easily outpaced the rest of the pack last season. He seemed to take their lack of early form cautiously (citing small-margin losses as well) saying: “They haven’t reached that winning momentum that they had last season, that’s obvious. I think you can have the same players as last season and you can have the same way of playing…but you have to develop that momentum and that comes with good results. We need to make sure that they don’t develop momentum against us.”

For example, Diego Costa only has one goal so far this season compared to seven at the same point last year. He may exhibit the same aggression but the goals haven’t been forthcoming; in Chelsea’s trip to Goodison Park last year he was condemned for his temperament and antics, yet countered the critics with two goals. This time around, he won’t need any excuse to go at his opposing center-back John Stone, who saw a potential move to Chelsea fall out just before deadline day.

A win against Everton and a goal or two for Costa would be the perfect way for Chelsea to put their poor opening behind them. Martinez noted that the international break will result in a tighter game, suiting a Chelsea side that have found themselves bossed around in uncharacteristically open games before the international break.

However, a loss to the Toffees (Everton themselves have had a solid opening to the season, drawing Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 last time out), would put Chelsea right back into a sticky situation.

Homepage photo credit: Snapshot of a photo taken by Aleksandr Osipov, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.