Chelsea v Everton

Marco Silva will face his toughest test as Everton manager when his troops travel to London to take on the only team in Europe who boast an unbeaten record in all competitions this season.

Silva has already had his fair share of tough fixtures at both the Emirates and Old Trafford, but some questionable finishing and abysmal officiating ultimately left the Toffees with nothing.

Winning away from home has been Everton’s Achilles heel for a long, long time. Dating much further back than the Portuguese manager’s time at the club.

But Silva has won just one of his five away trips, a record he will be desperate to improve this weekend at a ground Everton have failed to win at since November 1994.

But admittedly, it’ll be a tough ask.

Maurizio Sarri is yet to taste a competitive defeat since he took the Stamford Bridge reigns from Antonio Conte over the summer.

17 games have passed under Sarri, he has won 14 of them and drawn three.

With the mainstream media’s big fuss over both Manchester City and Liverpool, Chelsea are going somewhat under the radar.

But the way in which Sarri has got the Blues playing their football, alongside the mouthwatering form of Eden Hazard, no one should be surprised if they go on to lift the Premier League trophy come the end of the season.

Ross Barkley is set to face his former club for the first time since his Goodison departure in January.

The England international comes into this one in fine form, having contributed to six goals in his last five outings for Chelsea.

The sides have met on 179 occasions, with Chelsea coming out on top 72 times while Everton have won 54.

One to watch

The obvious candidate would be that man Hazard as he is currently top scorer in the PL with seven, but no.

Hazard is just coming back from injury so Álvaro Morata will prove the danger man.

Morata scored in this fixture last season when Chelsea ran out 2-0 winners in West London. The 26-year-old Spaniard has five goals in his last six games for Sarri’s team and will put Everton’s defence, who have only kept two clean sheets this campaign, to the test.

Team news

Cesc Fabregas and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are doubtful for Chelsea.

Kurt Zouma is ineligible to face his parent club so Yerry Mina is set to make his first competitive start for the club after coming through Tuesday’s friendly against Gor Mahia unscathed.

Richarlison, Everton’s joint top scorer this term, is also an injury worry.

Man in the middle

Kevin Friend will be in charge of the whistle on Sunday. It’ll be Friend’s first Everton game of the season and just his second officiating Chelsea.

In 12 matches, he has shown a whopping 44 yellow cards.