Soccer Odds - Chelsea vs. Everton Match Preview

Antonio Conte has to be scratching his head over what's gone on thus far this season with his Chelsea side. The Blues haven't been the better team on the pitch in either of their first two games of the season, and now, they have to play against an Everton team that has definitively been the better squad for the majority of the minutes it has played thus far in 2017-18.

At 8:30 a.m. ET, tune into CNBC for live television coverage of this Barclays Premier League match on Sunday, August 27, 2017, at Stamford Bridge.

Opening Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu

Chelsea -225
Everton +600
Draw +340
Over/Under 2.5

Odds Analysis

A price on Everton of 6 to 1 might end up proving to be worthwhile. We've already seen Burnley pull off a huge upset at Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea might be prone for a few of these brain farts this year.

That said, the Blues are -225 on the moneyline and are favored by a full goal on the Asian Handicap.

The total of 2.5 features -144 vig on the over, shading towards a flat 3.

Key Injuries

It's hard to blame absentees for Chelsea's problems thus far this year. Eden Hazard doesn't really have the match fitness yet to be playing 90 minutes in a duel like this one. He's the only man on the injury report thus far on the season. Gary Cahill won't play in this match either, though. This is his second match of a mandatory three-match suspension after picking up his red card against Burnley in that first fixture of the year.

Everton isn't anywhere near 100 percent quite yet this year, yet Ronald Koeman deserves all the credit in the world for keeping this team together. Ross Barkley, Yannick Bolasie, Seamus Coleman, Ramiro Funes Mori and James McCarthy are all out with no return to the lineup in sight. Morgan Schneiderlin will miss out on this match after he was sent off for two bookings against Manchester City.

Recent Form

Everton could truly have believed that it was going to get even a point from the two matches at Manchester City and Chelsea to start the season. Yet the Toffees have done the job, albeit blowing a 1-0 lead to end up with a 1-1 draw at the Etihad. That draw came on the heels of a 1-0 victory over Stoke to start the season, a match that featured little in the way of offense.

The Blues direly needed a result at Tottenham on Sunday to right their ship after the dud against Burnley to start the year. If the win at Wembley Stadium is the start of a nice run in form to get Chelsea back towards the top of the table, no one will remember that home loss against the Clarets, just as no one remembers that Crystal Palace came to the Bridge late last season and snared all three points. But let's make this much clear: This Chelsea team doesn't look anywhere near as good as last year's team.

Free Soccer Betting Pick

Everton is going to be a live dog for a second consecutive weekend. The Toffees are getting fantastic play out of Wayne Rooney, though he's their only man to have put the ball in the back of the net thus far on the season.

We just wonder aloud if Chelsea is going to be able to keep the ball out of the back of its own net. It wasn't the better of the two teams for sure at Wembley, and it was a deserving underdog in that match. We're certainly going to take the ball given to us with Everton.

Barclays Premier League Odds: Chelsea 1, Everton 1

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