This weekend it is a generational battle between the Premier League’s youngest average squad (24 years, 164 days) and its oldest (29 years, 126 days).

The Toffees, who failed to score on their last three visits to the Bridge, have had a clear week after a 3-0 home win against Nottingham Forest. That saw David Moyes’ men return to seventh place, though they were fifth in late August and sixth in October.

The Merseysiders’ only defeat in the last six league visits to the capital was 1-0 in this same fixture last April.

Stalemate for Chelsea at Bournemouth made it two top-flight points from the last possible nine, yet Enzo Maresca’s men remain handily-placed to push for UEFA Champions League qualification once again.

Interestingly, Chelsea have lost none of the past eight home league games following European away midweek action, winning six and drawing two.

The history

Chelsea and Everton have met 86 times in the league at Stamford Bridge, starting in October 1907 with Jimmy Windridge’s brace in a 2-1 Division One win. The Londoners have won 45 of those north-versus-south battles of the Blues, and lost just 12.

The great difference came in the Premier League era, as an uneventful 0-0 in August 1995 ushered in an unbeaten home league run against the Liverpudlians, now in its 30th year. The Blues have won 19 of the 30 games played in that time and 11 were drawn, including five in a row between 2007 and 2010 when the Toffees manager was none other than current boss Moyes.

In November 1997, penalties converted by Dennis Wise and Gianfranco Zola for 2-0 lifted the Londoners into the top three at basement-bound Everton’s expense.

In May 2001, the Toffees cracked after opening the scoring, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scoring twice in three first-half minutes for his 19th and 20th of the season and a 2-1 win for Claudio Ranieri’s side.

Of those victories 19 victories, 11 were to nil, including the famous 5-0 evisceration of Guy Fawkes Night 2016, when Antonio Conte’s soon-to-be champions provided the fireworks.

Veteran broadcaster John Motson described it as the all-time best Premier League performance of his long career, as Eden Hazard and Co put on a truly dazzling display. Even the goals that night – two for Hazard, one each for Diego Costa, Pedro and Marcos Alonso – approached perfection.

Even that emphatic scoreline was bettered in April 2024, when the club record of 6-0 against the Merseysiders (first set in Division One in September 1948) was matched by Mauricio Pochettino’s men.

This was very much the Cole Palmer show, the young Mancunian netting four, including a penalty, to become our first player to score in seven successive Premier League home games. Nicolas Jackson and young Alfie Gilchrist completed the win, Everton’s heaviest defeat for 19 years.

Jackson again found the net in April last season, as the Blues maintained the run with a 1-0 win.

Know this...

Chelsea have put 303 goals past Everton across all competitions, 21 more than our next-highest tally of 282 against Tottenham.

Over his long and distinguished coaching career, Moyes has never beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The 0-0 at Bournemouth earned the world champions’ seventh clean sheet of the league campaign. Only Arsenal (eight) have claimed more.

The Londoners’ goal difference of +10 is the third-highest in the top flight, after Arsenal and Manchester City (both +19).

Cole Palmer is one of two Chelsea players to have netted four goals in two separate Premier League games (the other being Frank Lampard).

The Toffees have called on the fewest players in this season’s Premier League campaign (19).

The 0-0 draw at Bournemouth last Saturday ended a run of 20 successive games across all competitions in which Chelsea had scored.

The Premier League is on course to claim a fifth Champions League place again next season as English clubs lead this season’s national association coefficient table ahead of Italy then Germany.