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WHEN AND WHERE?

The Blues will play our eighth WSL game on Merseyside against Everton, which kicks off at 12.30pm today.

THE FORM

What a fantastic start to the 2019/20 campaign for Emma Hayes’ side, having been unbeaten in seven league matches. Our most recent outing to Birmingham City resulted in a six-goal thriller, with Ji So-Yun and Millie Bright both getting a goal apiece, while both Bethany England and Drew Spence bagged a brace.

A spectacular free-kick from Ji opened the scoring minutes after kick-off, Bright doubled our lead 35 minutes later with a well-timed run and finish. The centre-back then turned provider on the stroke of half-time with a world-class pass into England, who finished wonderfully from close-range. Spence added two quick-fire goals within six minutes of the restart, the first was tucked away with her right foot and the other was with her head. Our No.9 England netted the sixth with just under an hour left of play when she poked the ball into the far corner with ease to register her ninth goal of the season.

Four days prior to our big triumph in the Midlands, Chelsea produced another impressive performance against Tottenham at Kingsmeadow to seal a place in the quarter-finals of the Continental Tyres Cup with one game left to play. Having failed to find a breakthrough in the opening 45 minutes, the Blues found joy in the second half and scored five goals. Spence got us underway, Erin Cuthbert converted from the spot, and two minutes later England made it three. Deanna Cooper slotted past the visitors goalkeeper and two minutes later Spurs pulled one back against the run of play. England extended our lead with less than 10 minutes left to play when she steered her headed effort home to complete a wonderful second-half performance.

Our opponents Everton have had a strong start to the season and are fourth place in the league with 15 points after winning five and losing two. Willie Kirk was appointed as the Toffees’ manager at the end of last year and he has transformed the side that finished second from bottom last term. Last Sunday they hosted Tottenham and triumphed 3-1 at the Pure Stadium in Southport. Midfielder Molly Pike gave the Toffees the early lead and then Spurs levelled the scoring through Lucy Quinn. However, Everton hit back when Maeva Clemaron steered home a header and Lucy Graham struck an effort into the top right-hand corner.

CHELSEA V EVERTON HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

The sides locked horns three times in the 2018/19 season, with two resulting in victories and the other was a goalless draw.

The most recent of the three was at the beginning of February in the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup. Two second-half goals from our Chelsea Academy graduates Spence and Hannah Blundell ensured we progressed to the next round of the cup. Spence finished off a well-worked counter-attacking goal just after the hour mark to open the scoring before Blundell tapped home from close-range in added-on time to seal the victory.

In the home WSL fixture last campaign, we enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win at Kingsmeadow and the tone was set early on by England who tucked away a finish after only six minutes. But we had to wait until the final third of the contest for the scoreline to reflect our dominance. Spence made it 2-0 on the hour with a close-range finish and then Blundell's curler from outside the box put the game out of Everton's reach.

Our last trip to Southport was in September 2018 and that finished in a frustrating draw. Spence hit the crossbar late on and Fran Kirby also fired wide as we failed to make the breakthrough.

A tight match was simply in keeping with our recent meetings with the Toffees, with both of the 2017/18 games resulting in narrow victories for Hayes’ squad. When we met at Kingsmeadow at the start of the new year it was the first time the two teams had squared off in a competitive fixture in almost four years, and it took until the closing stages of the game for us to seal a 1-0 victory. The match-winner was Jonna Andersson, whose brilliant late goal was the first of five vital strikes contributed by our left wing-back in the second half of the season after her arrival at the turn of the year.

It was another Swede who settled the contest when we travelled to the North-West in April 2018. Magdalena Eriksson’s glanced header from a Ramona Bachmann free-kick went in off the bar and we kept the Toffees out to secure a crucial win on our way to lifting the title.

Prior to that you have to go back to October 2014 for our last competitive match against Everton. On that occasion the Blues ran out 5-2 winners at Wheatsheaf Park thanks to a brace apiece from Eni Aluko and Rachel Williams, with Blundell also on target. England international Nikita Parris was on target for the Toffees.

It was a high-scoring affair in the previous season, too, although not for the right reasons as far as Chelsea were concerned. A hat-trick from Toni Duggan helped the Toffees to a 4-1 victory; Helen Ward scored a late consolation for the Blues.

There was another treble when the sides met in May 2012, this time scored by a Chelsea player as Ward struck all three of our goals in a 3-1 victory, and the centre-forward was also on target in a home game against Everton in the maiden season of the WSL.

HOW TO FOLLOW AND HOW TO WATCH THE LIVE STREAM

Fans who are unable to make it up north can keep up to date with the match via our social media channels. There will be live text commentary on our Twitter page, regular updates on Facebook and for behind-the-scenes footage, make sure you check out our matchday Instagram story. Simply search 'ChelseaFCW' on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

The match will also be shown live on The FA Player, a free streaming platform, exclusively dedicated for women’s football in England.

ELSEWHERE IN THE WSL

Brighton & Hove Albion took on Reading in a rare Friday night fixture, and that ended in a 2-2 draw. There are three other matches taking place over the course of the weekend with Arsenal facing Bristol, Manchester City play Liverpool and West Ham welcome Manchester United. Tottenham travel to Birmingham on Wednesday evening, too.

WATCH THE BLUES AT KINGSMEADOW

On Sunday 8 December, Chelsea welcome Manchester City to Kingsmeadow for a top-of-the-table clash. The mouth-watering fixture kicks off at 12 noon and there are lots of festive matchday activities taking place.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased at £9 for adults and £1 for juniors (aged under 20) and seniors (aged over 65).

Click here to buy your tickets