Everton vs. Chelsea: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info

Everton manager Sam Allardyce has surprised the Premier League by reviving the club's season in a little less than three weeks, but the visit of champions Chelsea on Saturday threatens to derail that progress.

The Toffees welcome the west Londoners to Goodison Park in the early kick-off having gone unbeaten in their last six matches—five of those being wins—and scoring 14 goals in that timeframe while conceding just twice.

Chelsea are also in a rich vein of form and have lost only once in their last 10 outings, but manager Antonio Conte will know three points on Merseyside are far from guaranteed as they look to draw level on points with second-placed Manchester United.

Everton have endured a rotten patch of form against the Stamford Bridge club, however, losing their last four meetings, and it's been more than two years since the Merseysiders last beat the Blues at Goodison in the league.

Read on for a preview of Saturday's clash, complete with all the latest team news and a breakdown of the vital viewing information.

Date: Saturday, December 23

Time: 12:30 p.m. GMT/7:30 a.m. ET

Venue: Goodison Park, Liverpool

Live Stream: Sky Go app (UK), NBC Sports Live Extra (U.S.), fuboTV (U.S.)

TV Info: Sky Sports (UK), NBCSN (U.S.)

Team News

Chelsea make the trip to Merseyside with minimal injury concerns, with centre-back David Luiz and wide man Charly Musonda the only first-team players to miss Wednesday's 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Bournemouth.

Luiz's absence is the more pressing of those two, and PhysioRoom.com provided quotes from Conte, who suggested the calendar year could be over for the Brazil international, who is recovering from a knee injury:

Everton's missing men are more widespread, and injury analyst Ben Dinnery gave left-back Leighton Baines slim chance of playing on Saturday, with no timeline for his return from a hamstring problem.

Attacking midfielder Ross Barkley is still to feature this season after suffering a serious hamstring injury in the summer, although he recently gave an update on his recovery via his official Instagram, as shown by Dinnery:

Saturday's clash could again be too soon for the England international, although Yannick Bolasie and James McCarthy are both understood to be nearing comebacks from knee and hamstring injuries, respectively.

Preview

After losing much of their lustre under previous manager Ronald Koeman and caretaker boss David Unsworth, Everton have regained confidence under Allardyce's command, taking 13 points from their last five games.

It takes leadership figures to provide such a turnaround when backs are against the wall, and BT Sport illustrated how converted midfielder and captain Wayne Rooney has been crucial to their cause:

The Toffees are now up to ninth in the standings and will leap above Leicester City into eighth if they beat the Blues at home, a feat West Ham United managed at London Stadium not two weeks ago.

Everton have much to fight for while Chelsea—14 points behind leaders Manchester City—will need to find their motivation ahead of the Week 19 trip.

Sports writer Ian Stafford doesn't envision much change in standing for Conte's team:

Following the disappointing 1-0 defeat at West Ham on December 9, Chelsea impressed with a 3-1 triumph at Huddersfield Town in their next outing, although Everton will prove a more testing force to break.

Much of the focus will fall on Everton youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin and how he can impose himself on a stubborn Chelsea defence, while Allardyce will need his tactical mind at its best if he's to overcome Conte.