Chelsea F.C.: Five Players to Watch Against Everton

After the long and quite boring international break, the English Premier League is back in action. Week Eight features some great games, including the Liverpool-Manchester United derby and Newcastle United facing Tottenham Hotspur.

And, of course, there's Chelsea versus Everton.

Blues fans will definitely remember last season's encounters with the Toffees.

The first, at Stamford Bridge, ended 1-1 with Jermaine Beckford equalizing in the last minutes. The second meeting was in the FA Cup Fourth Round at Goodison Park in which a lackluster Chelsea side managed to obtain a replay following a 1-1 draw.

The replay, as many Chelsea fans will remember well, ended in utter despair. The Londoners were dominant throughout but weren't able to find a goal. The match went into extra time where Frank Lampard finally found the back of the net. But, in the last minute of play, Leighton Baines scored a curling free-kick to send the game to penalties, where Everton won.

But Chelsea's poor results against the Merseyside team kept going. Carlo Ancelotti's last game in charge came at Everton, where the Pensioners were all over the place and lost 1-0.

Not a good year against Everton (two draws, two losses). But Chelsea face the Toffees this Saturday and will hope to avenge last season's defeats.

Without further ado, here's a list of five players to watch against Everton: 

Ashley Cole

Ashley Cole has started every league game so far this season, but has been below his best. Last campaign, it looked like Cole was playing left forward most matches, but he has been more reserved going forward this season.

Cole won't have any trouble keeping his starting spot in the Chelsea lineup, but will still want to improve his form and show that he is still a quality left back.

Didier Drogba

Like Cole, Didier Drogba has been worse than usual. This is most likely due to the improved performances of Fernando Torres and the Ivorian finding more time on the bench.

However, even against Bolton Wanderers, where Drogba had the perfect chance to prove himself to Andre Villas-Boas when Torres was suspended, the 33-year-old wasn't at his best and was outperformed by Daniel Sturridge.

It is very likely that Drogba starts against Everton, and he will aim to have a strong outing.

Florent Malouda

Florent Malouda is another Chelsea player who has found playing time limited this campaign. Many fans say that its the superb showings of Juan Mata that have caused Malouda's low number of starts, but I feel that he just hasn't played well enough.

Unlike the others on this list, it is not even close to guaranteed that the Frenchman starts this game, but I am confident that he will at least come on as a substitute.

Malouda will probably have to take Juan Mata out of the Chelsea lineup in order to return to his starting role on the left. That is certainly a tough task. However, if Malouda can show that he deserves to start, Andre Villas-Boas will probably find a way to accomodate the French winger.

Ramires

Ramires was mostly criticized at the beginning of his career in West London but the Brazilian has now become a regular starter in the Chelsea squad. Ramires has been brilliant this season and is now extremely confident going forward. 

Ramires has performed well so far this season but will need to keep his performances good on a regular basis. The 24-year-old has huge potential to be one of the league's best. 

Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard was outstanding against Bolton Wanderers and will look to do the same on Saturday. The English midfielder played less than 30 minutes on Friday in Euro Qualifying against Montenegro and will be completely fit for the Everton match.

Despite Lampard's hat-trick and man-of-the-match performance at Bolton, many people still believe that Chelsea should sell the 33-year-old. Lampard will need to keep playing well to respond to critics.