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2021/22 English Premier League
Matchday 35
Everton v Chelsea
Goodison Park
Liverpool, England
Sunday, 1 May 2022
Kick-off is at 15h00
Everton have a massive fight on their hands to avoid relegation from the
Premier League with six games remaining in the season, starting with the visit of Chelsea on Sunday, May 1.
The Toffees dropped into the bottom three after losing 2-0 to arch-rivals Liverpool in the Merseyside derby last Sunday, with Burnley going two points clear in 17th position after beating Wolves.
Frank Lampard's side have some tricky fixtures coming up in the next month, including a potential relegation six-pointer against Watford and a trip to Champions League-chasing Arsenal.
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Lampard insists their standards cannot drop and has urged his players to keep believing as he feels there is an opportunity for them to pick up enough points to escape the drop.
"Every game (from now), we have to be spot on, we have to fight and believe. The whole club has to do that, there will be some negative chat (externally), but we've been in this fight since I've been here," the former Chelsea midfielder and manager said.
"If it goes to the end, let's stand up and take it to the end. There are 18 points to fight for, that is a lot of points. It is important for the players and fans and club not to get sucked into that in a negative way. Be realistic, yes - but there are a lot of games for us to try to win."
The Blues bounced back from a disappointing 4-2 derby defeat to Arsenal with a 1-0 win over another one of their city neighbours West Ham at the weekend.
Thomas Tuchel's team have now lost two of their last four matches, which has allowed the fourth-placed Gunners to close within five points of them, albeit having played one game more.
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Tuchel admitted the Hammers didn't make it easy for them, but praised the "discipline" and "patience" of his players to go on and secure all three points after Christian Pulisic scored a 90th-minute winner.
"Games like West Ham are very hard to have a spectacular, open game against them and full credit to them. They defend normally with eight or nine players deep around their box and they do this so disciplined that it's very hard to find spaces to accelerate," the German said.
"I did not expect a spectacular game in general. The first half was a bit stuck but that was a little because of the uncertainty with the latest results here at home and we grew into it. We never lost discipline or patience."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Everton - 2
Chelsea - 2
Draws - 1
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