LeeDixon

There were always going to be a few doubters when Andre Villa-Boas was appointed Chelsea manager given his age and limited experience of being in charge of a big club. But I've seen enough of him and this Chelsea side to suggest they're already very close to being at their best and that a strong season lies ahead of them.

Match Odds

The Opta stats suggest that Chelsea have a tougher task than their quote of 1.38 suggests. After all, Chelsea have won only one of the last nine Premier League meetings against Saturday's opponents, drawing six of the remaining eight encounters, so that would suggest Everton certainly don't mind playing the Londoners. But on the other hand the hosts have won nine of their last 10 Premier League games at home, drawing the other. So they're obviously very strong at Stamford Bridge at the moment.

A lacklustre draw at Stoke in the first match of the season and an unlucky defeat at Old Trafford aside, AVB's men have won all their league matches, looking more dynamic and playing a quicker game than we've seen in recent years. Juan Mata has made things happen and Daniel Sturridge has been in good goalscoring form, growing in confidence by the game. All things considered, Chelsea should just be too strong for Everton and look a good bet improve on their indifferent record against the Toffees.

Over/Under 2.5 Goals

Chelsea have been scoring freely but, after midweek international exertions from many of the players, this may just be the sort of match where they'll be grateful to just win at all. Allied to Everton's problems with scoring, much to do with the fact that Louis Saha has been used sparingly whilst the likes of Yakubu and Jermaine Beckford have moved on, I'm expecting a low-scoring game here with 1-0 and 2-0 wins to Chelsea very much lively runners in the correct score market.

Chelsea clean sheet?

According to Opta, the Londoners have gone six games without a clean sheet so surely that run is about to continue. Right? Not necessarily. They haven't gone seven matches without a clean sheet since 2003 and I've spoken already about Everton's lack of options upfront. We have a slightly inflated price on a Chelsea shut-out because of their failure to keep one in recent times, so we should take advantage of it.

First Goalscorer

One of the characteristics of Villa-Boas' time in charge at Chelsea has been a willingness to drop senior players like Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba where he feels that's the right thing to do. As is his way, Lampard has just got on with the job and has scored goals when given a start. After a hat-trick at Bolton last time out I can't see him not starting this one and with the extra benefit of being on set-piece duty, he's a good choice to open the scoring at 7.0.

Recommended Bets:
Back Chelsea to win @ 1.38
Back under 2.5 goals @ 2.24
Back a Chelsea clean sheet @ 2.1
Back Frank Lampard to score first @ 7.0

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