Overview
After a heavy defeat to European champion Paris Saint-Germain in the middle of the week, Chelsea's 2025-2026 campaign is facing the risk of collapse.
Completely defeated in both legs, Chelsea suffered the heaviest defeat in the history of their two-leg matches in the Champions League. Right at Stamford Bridge, they still succumbed to PSG, thereby losing 2-8 overall in the round of 16.
Notably, coach Liam Rosenior's team still maintained balance in 73 minutes in the first leg last week, but then collapsed quickly when PSG scored the second goal in the second leg and widened the gap to 5 goals.
However, with the goal of winning a Champions League spot next season and the FA Cup journey still ahead, Chelsea cannot spend too much time regretting it.
Currently ranked sixth in the Premier League after a 0-1 defeat to Newcastle, Chelsea have lost 2 of their last 3 matches - equal to their number of losses in the previous 13 matches - and have not kept a clean sheet in 8 consecutive matches.
Although fifth place will be enough to qualify for the Champions League, the race is becoming extremely tense. Liverpool is only one point ahead of Chelsea, while Aston Villa is only slightly ahead by two points, making the final 8 round sprint promising to be dramatic.
After a 2-0 victory in the first leg in December, Chelsea set a goal to complete a double against Everton in the Premier League for the first time since 2017, thereby consolidating their position in the European race and reducing pressure on Rosenior.
On the other hand, Everton has an experience advantage on the coaching bench when David Moyes has led 746 matches in the Premier League - only less than Arsene Wenger (828) and Sir Alex Ferguson (810).
Despite just losing narrowly to Arsenal after holding out for nearly 90 minutes, Everton still showed discomfort. This defeat is a strong blow to Everton's European ambitions, after two consecutive victories against Newcastle and Burnley once rekindled hopes of returning to the continental arena.
However, with the high possibility that the European Cup spot will be expanded to the top 8, Everton still has a chance to compete, at least a Conference League spot.
The Merseyside team currently has 43 points after 30 matches - the best record in this period since 2021 - and only needs two more victories to surpass last season's total points (48 points).
However, they still have difficulty maintaining home form. Everton has not won two consecutive matches at Hill Dickinson Stadium in the Premier League since April 2015.
If they win, Everton will narrow the gap with Chelsea to two points. However, head-to-head history does not favor them as they have not scored in 12/19 recent encounters with Chelsea, including 4 recent consecutive matches.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who is about to face his old team, is having an impressive season when leading Everton in the number of goals scored (9), and also ranked third in the number of chances created (27) and the expected assist rating (4.1).
On Chelsea's side, although Cole Palmer scored a hat-trick against Wolves and scored more goals against Aston Villa, he is still an unknown about his form. Conversely, Joao Pedro is the most stable threat, especially away from home.
Head-to-head record
After a 2-0 win in the first leg - where both Cole Palmer and Malo Gusto scored - Chelsea is aiming to complete a double win over Everton in the Premier League for the first time in 9 years.
In the last four encounters in the Premier League, Chelsea has a clear advantage when winning three and drawing one, scoring 9 goals without conceding a single.
However, Everton has a fairly impressive home record against this opponent. The Merseyside team has won five and only lost one in the last eight Premier League receptions against Chelsea, showing that this will still be a not-so-easy challenge for the away team.
Score prediction: Everton 2-2 Chelsea
The match between Everton vs Chelsea takes place at 0:30 a.m. March 22 (Vietnam time).
