With the Champions League and Premier League out of sight, the FA Cup seems to be the only piece of silverware that Chelsea can win this year. Chelsea come into this match on the back of a 2-1 loss to PSG at the Stamford Bridge. The Blues faithful are hoping to make a statement by winning the match against Everton and Guus Hiddink has to make sure that he gets his elements right and puts on the best starting eleven.
Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois
Well, this one is an absolute sure one. The Belgian keeper put on one of his finest performance of this season against Manchester United and since then has seemed to be buzzing in all the matches. The Belgian arguably could have done better to read the flight of Ibrahimovic’s pass for PSG’s opener but was let down by his defence for the next one and he pulled off a few smart saves to keep his side in the game. However, he always is the manager and fan favourite and will start this match.
Defenders: Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, Kennedy and Cesar Azpilicueta
With both Terry and Zouma out injured, Hiddink will have to again start with the Central defensive partnership of Ivanovic and Cahill. Both of them had a relatively average game against PSG but they are the best that Chelsea has to offer right now. In the PSG game, it was always a tough ask for young Kennedy to battle against Di Maria at left-back, but he largely impressed and stuck to his task well. Despite giving PSG too much space for the first goal, he performed quite well and should keep his place in the starting eleven. Azpilicueta performed well when pushing forward towards the end of the first half but struggled defensively against the likes of Maxwell and Di Maria. However he is the best right-back option at Chelsea right now and he should ideally start.
Midfielders: Nemanja Matic, J. Obi Mikel, Oscar, Willian, Pedro
Fabregas largely failed to impress in the PSG game and Hiddink should start with Matic in his place. J. Obi Mikel played well in the first half against PSG, but became sloppy as tiredness set in. Hiddink will however, look to start him alongside Matic as a lot of the Nigerians defensive responsibilities is being taken up by Matic and that allows him the attacking freedom. In the last match, Hazard looked better than he has for large parts of this season but was forced off through injury and Oscar replaced him. With a report still pending on his availability, one would expect Hiddink to start with Oscar in his place. Willian has been Chelsea’s best performer this season. He has impressed in all the positions he has played in. He should be ideally starting on the right with Oscar playing behind the striker. Even though Pedro had a little bit of sloppy passing in the last match, he was actually good with his runs. Hiddink will try to talk to him and make sure that he converts those runs into chances created for the team.
.
Striker: Bertrand Traore
With Costa again out injured, it’s going to be young Traore who looks to start against Everton. The 20-year-old started against Stoke and got a stunner of a goal. Except for the goal, he was actually quite average against the Stoke defence and was substituted by Remy in the 68th minute. However after replacing Costa against PSG, he tried his hardest to continue the Spaniard’s good work but the PSG defence sat tight and he couldn’t make much of an impact. Hiddink would be still looking to give the youngster a few more chances and Brazilian Pato might start on the bench again.