The Blues’ most recent action in this 12.30pm Saturday time-slot was also on Merseyside – a 1-1 draw at Anfield in May – and we are unbeaten in the past ten such fixtures, winning eight of them.

Hosts Everton remain unbeaten this term after Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Hull City, when they netted the first league goals the Tigers have conceded on Humberside.

This fixture, played every season since 1989, takes the current top flight’s third-highest-scoring attack to the home of its joint-best defence.

Last weekend’s pulping of the Cherries means the Blues have one win, four goals and two points more than at the same stage last season.

Xabi Alonso’s side are the Premier League’s early strikers, breaking the deadlock on five occasions an average of just three minutes into the game. Only Brentford (six) and Manchester City (five) have struck first with such regularity, and have averaged 36 and 35 minutes respectively to do so, 30-plus minutes longer than Chelsea.

It is a good habit to take to Merseyside, where even before Everton’s switch to their waterfront home, Chelsea have earned scant returns down the years. But the Blues will be especially determined to avenge our only previous appearance at the new stadium earlier this year, a chastening 3-0 loss.

A win would see Chelsea leapfrog the Toffees and potentially rise as high as fourth, should Brentford fail to beat Liverpool in the other west London-Merseyside clash later on Saturday.

The history

Liverpool (50) is the only league away trip in which Chelsea have suffered more defeats than at Everton (44, same as Arsenal).

Goodison Park was the setting for 43 of those, but March’s 3-0 defeat at the Hill Dickinson Stadium was the Blues’ biggest loss at Everton since the 4-1 of October 1987, during John Hollins’ ill-fated tenure as manager.

Up to then, Chelsea were unbeaten in four meetings with the Toffees, three of them wins. However, Jorginho’s penalty in August 2022 was our last winner at Goodison, ending a run of four straight losses on that side of Stanley Park.

The first win there came back in April 1908, courtesy of George Hilsdon, ‘Gatling Gun’ being responsible for three without reply on the day.

At the opening of the first season following World War One, on 30 August 1919, Chelsea shocked the pre-war defending champions by winning 3-2 on Merseyside.

Three years later, the Blues repeated the scoreline, but it would then be 26 years before all the points returned to west London from Goodison with another 3-2 win, new talisman Roy Bentley opening the scoring.

Our only victory for 21 years was a 3-0 (two goals for Les Stubbs) in October 1956, but in March 1969 goals from Alan Birchenall and Ian Hutchinson claimed the spoils for Dave Sexton’s Kings of the King’s Road.

Then, in December 1984, new signing Gordon Davies’ hat-trick edged a toe-to-toe 4-3 battle, while a rare Steve Clarke strike settled the contest four years later. The same result marked the Blues’ first Premier League foray to Goodison, Robert Fleck grabbing the headlines.

From 2001 to 2010, Chelsea were unbeaten home and away to Everton across all competitions. That included the 2009 FA Cup final win and Didier Drogba’s spectacular late winner for a 3-2 victory in December 2006.

Two goals from Frank Lampard in a 2-1 win just before New Year 2012 began our best-ever run of three wins from five visits. One of them was the topsy-turvy 6-3 in August 2014, in which Diego Costa struck twice, and another was a show of three second-half goals in 21 minutes to win 3-0 in 2017. The 1-0 in 2022 is Chelsea’s only success since then.

Know this...

Chelsea (50) and Everton (44) have committed the fewest fouls in the Premier League so far this season.

Joao Pedro has found the back of the net with five of his 13 shots to date in the Premier League.

The Blues have the second-best conversion rate of shots-to-goals in the top flight (18.29 per cent), only behind Man City (19.28 per cent).

Everton have recorded the most high turnovers resulting in a shot (14) in the current campaign, but only one of those has resulted in a goal.

Between them, Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer have set up 24 attempts on goal this season.

Chelsea have notched six goals inside the opening seven minutes of league matches this season, 40 per cent of our total. Four were scored in the opening three minutes, one behind the Blues’ club record – set over the entire title-winning 2014/15 season – and two shy of the Premier League record of six set by Manchester United in 2010/11.

In the 5-1 beating of Bournemouth last Saturday, Jordan Henderson (36 years and 115 days old) became Chelsea’s oldest English goalscorer since John Terry netted against Watford in May 2017 (36 years and 159 days).

The only player to score and assist quicker in a Premier League game than Henderson against the Cherries (two minutes, 29 seconds) was Emile Heskey against Derby County in April 1998, inside the opening two minutes.