After a long week of cup football, our Academy teams have returned to their respective league campaigns and after the big win for our Under-18 side yesterday, the development squad will be aiming to keep the winning feeling in the Academy going.

How to watch and kick-off time

Chelsea TV will be providing coverage of this afternoon’s clash live and for free on the 5th Stand app and the official Chelsea website. Kick-off is at 1pm and we will have a full match report on the official website following the final whistle.

The form

Our league start has been positive and after six games we sit second, one point off first-placed Derby County, who are on 13 points. However, a tough defeat last time out away at Liverpool was just our second in the league in over a year.

The opposition

Everton are in eighth place on seven points. Of their six games, the Toffees have won two, drawn one and lost three this season, one of those being at Manchester United last time out.

They are just one of the four teams who have conceded fewer goals than us this term but remain one of the league’s lowest scorers. However, their last league win was a big one, seeing off Derby by four goals to one at the end of September.

From the dressing room

After helping our youth team to the final of the 2019/20 FA Youth Cup last weekend, Marcel Lewis and his team are back at Cobham and preparing well for the test of the Toffees.

‘A lot of us will be disappointed following the weekend but it’s important to switch focus back to the league quickly,’ Lewis tells the official Chelsea website. ‘It’s another big game against Everton this weekend and we need to be at our best to achieve success like we did last season. They're always one of our toughest opponents and you can tell that from our games against them last year.’

Yet to score in PL2 this season, Lewis does rank sixth among the all-time FA Youth Cup scorers for Chelsea with six goals and sitting in good company in the book of stats. The forward is now looking to transfer his cup scoring form into this year’s league campaign, which he feels the team have started well.

‘I can come away from the Youth Cup feeling confident and try to move the goalscoring success into the league,' he added. 'Hopefully I can start that this weekend and kick on from there. I always try and make good forward runs to get in good positions and finishing is something I've practiced a lot over the years.’

‘I think it's been a good start to the season for us. We've had a couple of not-so-great results which we are disappointed with but I don’t think we've played bad. Overall I think we’ve gelled well as a team, we understand each other very well and I think our confidence and ability will grow as we develop.’

There were seven PL2 appearances for Lewis last season If he features against Everton this weekend, the 19-year-old will match that figure already and with two assists to his name as well, he feels he's adapted well to the step up in age groups.

‘It’s more physical and prepares us for men’s football but I enjoy it [playing in PL2],’ he continued. ‘You’ve got to perform better, you’ve got to be quicker – it’s a lot different to playing youth team football and I think it's been okay so far from a personal point of view.'