PAT NEVIN: RUN AHEAD

With the season now two months through, the time is right reckons columnist and Chelsea legend Pat Nevin, to study what awaits Andre Villas-Boas and the players over the next four weeks…

For me Saturday was one of the trickiest ties that Chelsea have faced this season in that Everton are bordering on a bogey team for the Blues.

They also have a superb manager who makes the best of what he has available with astute tactics and a great team spirit engendered over the years. Having overcome that hurdle the fences on the horizon are arguably slightly less imposing.

As usual there is the general caveat that any team can produce an upset, especially in the Premier League, and of course players and management cannot officially look any further ahead than the next game, but there is a run now that looks very appetising if there is a fair wind in our sails. After the Genk game tomorrow it is QPR at Loftus Road, they haven't won at home yet in the Premier League so I don't expect Chelsea at the top of their form will be their first victims.

After that it is Arsenal at home and then Blackburn away. The Gunners have certainly picked up a bit since what could only be described as a horrendous start to the campaign, but even so there has rarely been a better time in the past decade to face Arsenal in the search of three points.

As for Blackburn Rovers, the league table doesn't look very impressive at all for them - rock bottom and there is plenty of discontent in the stands to boot. Right now if you had to choose a team to travel to in the Premier League it might just be them.

Next up after that is Liverpool and although there has been a bit of a revival from Kenny's men, particularly since Steven Gerrard tiptoed onto the scene again, they still aren't travelling very well. Their win at Everton makes it look a lot better superficially, but that was hugely aided by a horrendous and now officially erroneous refereeing decision that reduced the Toffees to ten men. 

After that it is the battling but struggling Wolves who visit the Bridge, again a game that with a decent level of performance, we would expect to win. It is not an easy run as such and who knows what form, injuries and refereeing decisions will do to the chances, but there is clearly an opportunity over the next six weeks to put serious pressure on Manchesters United and City.

In amongst all those league games are three cup ties, Everton at Goodison in the Carling Cup is arguably the tallest order of all because the two games against Genk are very winnable when all things are considered. I feel a little sorry for the Belgians at the moment in that they are currently being severely hampered by a spate of injuries to some of their most important players.

Small-ish European sides can't carry big squads with quality throughout, so in the two games against Chelsea, which are undoubtedly the glamour ties of Genk's campaign, they may well be forced to play quite a few reserves and even the odd kid who really needs another year or two before being introduced at this level.

So although I do feel sorry for their predicament, the sympathy will wane/disappear when the teams run out tomorrow night. A solid professional job in both these games home and away should just about do the trick for qualification to the knockout stages, certainly one win from the two final matches after that will be enough.

So both domestically and in Europe it is an important time but a very positive time and that is happening just when Manchester United are having a 'difficult moment'. Draws against Benfica, Stoke, Basel and Liverpool are not necessarily terrible results, but they at least indicate a weakness at some level. Added to the number of chances Norwich and indeed Chelsea created against them at Old Trafford and it is clear that the early season veil of invincibility is slipping.

It may well be that Manchester City are now as big a threat for the title as United and I suppose there will be a good indication of that when the teams meet next Sunday at Old Trafford.

Both cannot obviously come away with three points early on Sunday afternoon and by the time the Blues walk out at Loftus Road we will know just how far three points of our own will take us. Match scheduling doesn't usually seem to help us, but for once I think we benefit from Sky's Super Sunday programming.

I'm currently preparing to get down for the Genk game where I will be co-commentating for Chelsea TV and doing the build-up and post-match phone-ins to boot. This should be lots of fun, as long as we win of course and continue what has been a fine sequence of results as well as some equally impressive displays.

There is just one thought though, when things are going just as smoothly as they are, don't you just think there must be a fly ready to appear in the ointment somewhere? Maybe that is me just being a typical football fanatic however. Even when the times are good it is hard to just sit back and enjoy them, because you know it can all change very quickly if you do not keep doing the right things. Time to concentrate then, but I suspect AVB knows that already.

Someone who can afford to sit back and enjoy the glory right now is the most recent quiz winner. There are two correct answers to the question, where doesFrank Lampard currently sit in the all-time scorers list at Chelsea? Well he is third in the list for scorers in all competitions. First is still Bobby Tambling with 202, followed by Kerry Dixon with 193 and then comes Lamps with 175. With regard to the League figures only however, he is fifth behind Bobby Tambling164, Kerry Dixon 147, Roy Bentley 128 and then Jimmy Greaves 124 before Lamps with 119.

Just about everyone got it right, but the lucky winner chosen at random by my currently less than glamorous assistant, who had to be dragged out of bed this morning to choose, is Cheong Meng Jon from Malaysia. The quiz will be back again next week.

RESERVES LIVE ON CHELSEA TV

Chelsea reserves return to action at Cobham this afternoon, entertaining Wolverhampton Wanderers live on Chelsea TV.

Coach Dermot Drummy is hoping his youngsters can return to winning ways on the club's in-house channel from 2pm, and could be boosted by the presence of first-team members.

'We're looking forward to getting back into the games because we thought Villa was a good game with missed chances and we played some good football,' said the coach, whose side were beaten 1-a fortnight ago.

'There's a possibility of a couple of first-teamers involved, depending on how players are coming out of Saturday's game, so we might see someone likeRomelu Lukaku figure,' he added.

'Against Aston Villa in the last game we lacked a centre-forward and had to play young Alex Kiwomya, a schoolboy, we now have three to choose from because Marko Mitrovic has trained, Philipp Prosenik is back and also Milan Lalkovic has been recalled from Doncaster so he will come back in and we will have a strong team.'

There is also the possibility of recent schoolboy signing Islam Faruz, a goalscorer in the youth team's 2-1 win at Portsmouth at the weekend playing some part, but Jacob Mellis is a hamstring doubt and Daniel Pappoe-Mills will stay with the youth squad as he builds match fitness.

Likely to start once again is Sam Hutchinson, who continues his comeback having previously retired from the game. Drummy has been hugely impressed by the 22-year-old defender, and cannot praise his attitude enough.

'Hutch is doing fantastic,' he said. 'He's managing himself really well, no one probably knows better than himself, so he's working in line with what the medical staff tells him.

'He's very confident he's really performing well, which is nice, and every game he plays his sharpness is improving and performing to his strengths. He's done really well.'

Hutchinson's calm head will be needed against Wolves, who Drummy admits he knows little about at this level, with focus firmly on his own men rather than the opposition.

'Wolves played on Sunday so may not have first-teamers themselves, they may do, I don't know, but that's irrelevant. We go out to play our way and if we can do that I am sure we can get a result.

'I'm not worried about the Villa game, the character was fine, we could have scored two goals at the end and played against four or five Villa first-teamers. We played some decent football, and we showed fantastic character in that game, which I hope to see again.'

You can see how the second string fare live on Chelsea TV, Sky channel 421, from 2pm. The game is also on CTV Online.

WINGERS' DELIGHT AT WINNING RUN

Two of the main protagonists of Saturday's victory over Everton have had their say on a third straight Premier League win.

Daniel Sturridge turned in his eighth goal in nine games to set the ball rolling after half an hour, while Juan Mata laid on the third for Ramires after instigating a superb breakaway.

'I enjoyed the match because it was an important game for us. We needed to win to keep up at the top of the table, and it was a good game,' said the Spaniard, who was conducting only his second interview in English after speaking with the official Chelsea website last week.

'From the first match I had a goal and it brought confidence for me, and I am enjoying the city and the club,' he added.

Goalscorer Sturridge believes he is in as rich a vein of form as he can remember.

'I'd say so professionally, I think it's the best I've played,' said the 22-year-old. 'In the youth team I used to do It regularly but it comes as a surprise to me because I'm doing it in the professional game. I'm enjoying it and I'm happy I'm taking it into the first team.

'We played a great team game. The manager told us to move the ball quickly and play one-touch football as much as possible and I think we did that very well.'

The win closed the gap to Manchester United, who could only draw at Liverpool, and allowed us to keep in touch with Manchester City, who were winners against Aston Villa. Sturridge however is happy for the other sides in the title race to draw the lion's share of attention and media coverage.

'I'm happy for everyone not to talk about us and for us to get on with what we're doing,' said the former City player. 'We're just happy if we continue beating every opposition put in front of us. It doesn't matter what the opposition is, we want to win every game.'

Finally, Sturridge was asked for his opinion on Mata, who only arrived in English football in late August.

'He gives everything every single game,' he said. 'He runs very hard every game and is a very creative player for us, making a lot of chances and scoring his fair share of goals.

'He's a great acquisition and we're glad to have him.'

REACTION: NOTHING SPECIAL YET

Having watched his team maintain a 100 per cent home record in the league and make it 12 goals scored in the last three games, Andre Villas-Boasindicated that the achievement so far is only par for the course.

Chelsea moved within a point of second-placed Manchester United with a win that brought to an end a series of frustrating home draws against Everton, who as they have done before at the Bridge recently, scored late on. By that stage though the Blues were 3-0 up thanks to goals from in-form Daniel Sturridge,John Terry just before the break, and Ramires who was injured in the process and forced to leave the pitch.

'It was a good win for us,' said a satisfied Villas-Boas.

'It is never easy coming back after an international break but it was important to get three points, particularly on a day when two title contenders played against each other.

'Eventually Man United got an important point at Anfield but at least it allows us to get closer to second position at the moment.

'I don't see it so much as Man United dropping points,' he said of the earlier 1-1 draw against Liverpool.

'I see it more as Liverpool dropping points, a point at Anfield is something that any manager takes. It still gives us the opportunity to get closer to them but of course we still need to go to Anfield.

'We have not done anything special. We just have to continue to win until we find a position of comfort at the top of the league.'

It took 30 minutes to take the lead against Everton, and the manager was pleased with patience shown as the team stuck to a plan.

'It was decisive to get the second goal just before half time which is something that never helps the opposition manager. A score of 3-0 then gave us the confidence that we needed to take the three points.

'We managed to play a lot from the back, tiring the strikers of Everton and eventually when they got the ball they could not respond with the usual aggressiveness that they have,' he explained. It was an analysis that Toffees boss David Moyes agreed with.

'It was a really difficult game but we have been to Chelsea before and we have had to defend harder,' Moyes added.

'Today we gave them the first two goals due to terrible defending and they didn't have to work particularly hard. We made some opportunities but the ball didn't run kindly, our players stuck at it, and I couldn't have asked for more except to defend better.'

Villas-Boas when asked about the performance of Juan Mata who played crucial passes for the first and third goals, highlighted the fact that the Spaniard is doing well due to his relationship with players around him. Moyes did speak about the individual.

'If Mata improves like David Silva has improved at Man City then Chelsea will have a player,' said the Scot, 'because he comes and he joins in and he gives them an extra midfield player.

'You need to find ways of coping with him and he made a pass for Cole for the first goal after he came into the middle of the pitch, and your full-back can't go all the way there with him.

'He has given them a new dimension at the moment and they are a more flexible Chelsea than they have been in the past.'

On Wednesday Chelsea entertain Genk in the Champions League before the return of the west London derby at Loftus Road next weekend.

'It is uncertain whether Ramires will be fit for those games until he has a scan on his knee but Villas-Boas indicated the injury is a minor one, before adding:

'We need three points at Queens Park Rangers which is going to be difficult and see what happens in the game between Manchester United and Manchester City.'

MATCH REPORT: CHELSEA 3 EVERTON 1

Chelsea recorded a first home league win at Stamford Bridge against Everton since April 2006, thanks to goals from Daniel Sturridge, John Terry andRamires.

There were only a few glimpses of the awe-inspiring performance that preceded this one against Bolton two weeks ago, but such was Everton's impotence for long spells that it was never needed.

A poor first 30 minutes was forgotten once Sturridge and Terry had headed home from close range, the latter in first-half injury time, and the game was put beyond doubt when Ramires netted his third of the season after a superb breakaway involving Juan Mata and Didier Drogba.

The Brazilian limped off shortly afterwards with a knee injury, and Everton sub Apostolos Vellios pulled a consolation back for the Toffees with 10 minutes remaining, but the result would not be put in doubt.

After Manchester United's draw at Liverpool, ground has been made up, but Manchester City now top the table after a comfortable home win against Aston Villa.

BEST MOMENTChelsea's third goal showed the best of three important figures. Juan Matatwice played accurate passesin very different situations, Drogba showed his unrivalled power with a driving run into the heart of Everton's defence andRamires once more demonstrated his ability to influence proceedings at either end with a turbo-charged run into opposition territory.

TEAM NEWSInternational duty influenced Andre Villas-Boas's decision to make two changes to the line-up that had started a fortnight ago against Bolton. Raul Meireles and David Luiz both played two full games in the last week for their countries, allowing recalls for Branislav Ivanovic and John Mikel Obi.

Fernando Torres was serving the second game of his three-match suspension, so Didier Drogba continued up front flanked by Daniel Sturridgeand Juan Mata.

Ramires was starting his 50th Chelsea game, while John Terry was appearing in his 350th Premier League encounter.

Everton were unchanged from the side beaten 2-0 by Liverpool in their last outing, meaning a lone role in attack for Louis Saha, a regular scorer against the Blues, who today were sporting the Help A Capital Child logo on their home shirts.

FIRST HALFMatches with Everton tend to be physical by their nature, and that is how this one began.

The first meaningful tussle saw Ramires burst through from midfield, only to be bundled to the ground by Sylvain Distin 30 yards from goal, his route otherwise clear, and then within a minute Toffees talisman Tim Cahill got the better ofAshley Cole in mid-air, but headed his effort wide from around 18 yards.

It was a reminder to Chelsea that sometimes you have to earn the right to play your tidy football, and the Merseysiders would need to be matched physically before they could be technically outdone.

Saha caught a decent sight of goal after 10 minutes, cutting in onto his weaker right foot and shooting low at Petr Cech, who needed a second chance to hold the fierce strike.

Chelsea's start was disjointed, wide men Mata and Sturridge seeming to attack in isolation, final balls from full-backs Jose Bosingwa and Ashley Colemisplaced and Drogba struggling to keep hold of the ball under close attention.

After 20 minutes Chelsea's only effort at goal was a mishit Bosingwa drive on his left foot. Moments later at the other end a low Leighton Baines cross found Maroune Fellaini, who was about to shoot before Mikel's excellent intervention denied a likely goal.

The Swiss midfielder's decision not to shoot first time would come back to haunt him on the half-hour, when Chelsea's first cohesive move brought the opening goal.

Drogba had dropped deep to get involved in the play, and spotting Cole's run into the area lofted the ball into the defender's path. Cole did well to beat his marker to the bouncing ball and diverted it across goal, where Sturridge arrived on cue to send a diving header home from close range for his third in two games.

Chelsea were still far from dominant but heading into half-time with a narrow lead would have pleased Villas-Boas. As it was, he was able to go in at the break with a two-goal advantage, thanks to Terry's injury-time header.

The one added minute had been played but with a Chelsea free-kick to come,Frank Lampard swung the ball into the danger zone, Terry leapt highest in a group of four, and Everton keeper Tim Howard could only flap the ball into the net. Chelsea were cruising despite having hardly moved out of first gear.

SECOND HALFEverton were quickly on the front foot in the second half, Leon Osman whipping a low shot against the outside of Cech's left-hand post after just 20 seconds, but Chelsea were equally fast to react and assume a greater level of control than we had seen in the first half.

An excellent counter-attack brought a third Chelsea goal on the hour. Mata had found Drogba in the centre-circle and the Ivorian drove hard at the Everton defence before slipping the ball left back into Mata's path. The former Valencia man squared across the danger zone and there was the Duracell bunnyRamires to slide it home from a yard out.

It was the Brazilian's last contribution, as a moment later he was forced to limp from the field with a knee injury sustained in the act of scoring. Florent Maloudacame on in his place, with Lampard switching from the left to right of the midfield trio.

Mikel and Mata both earned rests too, withdrawn after 76 minutes with the game well won, replaced by Oriol Romeu and Nicolas Anelka.

Osman was allowed another effort from outside the area but curled well wide, and that was as close as they looked like coming before substitute Apostolos Vellios slid home a low Royston Drenthe cross with his first touch nine minutes from time.

That meant another game without a clean sheet for Chelsea, whose defensive work could again be questioned here, with no challenge on Vellios after Drenthe had been given plenty of space to deliver.

The game was won though, and Villas-Boas said in his pre-match press conference he was not so concerned at conceding goals so long as three points kept coming.

A fourth goal nearly arrived in injury time when Lampard sent a powerful half-volley towards goal, but Howard held on.

That means Chelsea must wait for our 6,000th league goal of all time, but with goals flowing again it will surely not be long. Our next outing is against Genk in the Champions League at the Bridge on Wednesday, before a short trip to QPR next weekend.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c), Cole; Ramires (Malouda 64), Mikel (Romeu 76), Lampard; Sturridge, Torres, Mata (Anelka 76).
Unused subs Turnbull, Alex, Meireles, Lukaku.
Goals Sturridge 30, Terry 45+1, Ramires 61
Booked Cole 37, Sturridge 69

Everton (4-4-1-1): Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka (c), Distin, Baines; Coleman (Drenthe 60), Rodwell, Fellaini, Osman; Cahill (Neville 71); Saha (Vellios 80).
Unused subs Mucha, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Stracqualursi.
Goal Vellios 80
Booked Fellaini 15, Baines 41

Attendance 41,789
Referee Mike Jones

COLE AND STURRIDGE SET TARGETS

Daniel Sturridge has put holding down a place in the Chelsea side above selection for the full England squad as his main ambition for this season, whereas team-mate Ashley Cole backs the striker to represent his nation.

The players were speaking at Thursday evening's 'An Audience With…' event at Stamford Bridge. The two are very good friends, as demonstrated by a mix of complements, banter and teasing between them on the night but Cole did not hold back on praise when it came to describing his younger colleague's quality on the pitch.

'He [Sturridge] is one of the hardest guys to mark in training because of the speed he plays at,' said the left-back.

'He can go inside and outside and he is strong. He should have been in the last England squad and if he keeps doing what he is doing he will be in the squad for Euro 2012, no problem at all.'

'If England comes and I play for England then great,' stated Sturridge, 'but I am not really worried about playing for England, it is not something I am really stressing about. My main focus is to play for Chelsea every week and if I can do that then I am happy.

'It has been a long time I have been playing at Chelsea now and I have not been playing regularly so for me the most important thing is to be playing regularly.

'I could play a lot better than I am and I am getting used to the position out wide. I enjoy playing there.'

Sturridge has done well to make such an impact already this season, given that he missed the first three league game due to a red card suffered on loan at Bolton, a situation he deeply regretted, as he told the Chelsea fans present.

'I was absolutely devastated just sitting there watching and thinking if I was out there now maybe I could do something.

'It is the worse feeling in the world, watching when you could be out there.

'I did a stupid challenge [for the sending off] but I didn't go out there to hurt anyone and I am not the best tackler out there. I am never going to do a sliding tackle like that again, I don't know what went through my head.'

Sturridge in turn described Cole as the best left-back in the world and said: 'He has been there for me from day one at Chelsea and helped me through.'

Both talked about the highly competitive rivalry against one other on the Cobham pool table and the subject of winning was discussed.

'I just hate that feeling of coming off the pitch having lost,' said Cole.

'All my life I have tried to win things and battle against things and that losing feeling, I don't like it. I always want to win and it is a kind of a fear as well, it drives you on.'

'The will to win is the main motivating factor for any professional footballer,' agreed Sturridge. 'It is what keeps you going and it will never go away. It is not just football, it is everything from pool to table tennis.'

Asked the music they are listening to in their cars at the moment, the list included Lil Wayne, Jill Scott and Jay-Z, soon to be Cole's partner in a charity restaurant project.

The two also gave views on Chelsea considering the possibility of a larger capacity ground.

'As a club we do maybe need a bigger stadium because if you look at the biggest clubs in the Premier League and around the world, their stadiums are a bit bigger than Stamford Bridge,' said Sturridge.

'I am not disrespecting Stamford Bridge, it is a fantastic stadium and the atmosphere is unbelievable and that is because of the fans, and if we get more fans into the stadium then maybe it would be a good thing. But at the same time there is a lot of history at this stadium and fans have been coming here since before I was born, and I am not the person to say I think you should move away. The fans have a right to their opinion.

'I think maybe it is a step in the right direction. With a bigger stadium I think we would be a bigger and better club.'

'As a club of course you want to move to a bigger stadium because so many clubs now are getting bigger stadiums, more fans and this club is a big club,' said Cole.

'A lot of people love Chelsea around the world but if we want to improve and become even bigger then I think we do need to go to a bigger stadium. Of course people are going to miss Stamford Bridge but if we want to evolve I think it is a good move.

'We have to trust Roman [Abramovich]. He has put something like 800 million pounds in and if you see the training ground and what he has done there, if you look at the bigger picture you have to trust him.'

Looking not so far into the future, Cole declared what his main target is for the current season.

'I want to win the Premier League every season. I have been lucky to play in two Champions League Finals and to get to the final you don't have to be the best team, the further you get it can be the luck of the draw.

'But to win the Premier League you play tough teams week in week out and you can take nothing for granted. To be champions in England is a great achievement.

TERRY: NATIONAL PRIDE

With Euro 2012 qualification safely secured, John Terry can put his England captaincy to one side for the time being and concentrate on Chelsea's push for success this season.

A point away from home in Friday's international in Montenegro allowed our skipper to return to Cobham on Tuesday to begin preparations for the Everton game, but he isn't finished with England for 2011 quite yet, and he harbours hopes for some of his club team-mates in the coming months.

'We've got a couple of friendlies, Spain next month, and there is a lot of preparation so I expect the management to try new things, new formations, and new players as well because the younger players have made a massive impact,' Terry says.

'We've got a couple here, Studge [Daniel Sturridge] and Josh [McEachran] who can really push for places. We've seen the manager give chances to the likes of Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley as well, so it's refreshing for the youth of English football and the younger players coming through at the moment.'

With England having missed out on the European Championships, there is relief and some satisfaction that a place in the summer's football festival has been secured.

'It was a bit strange after the game on Friday knowing the draw was enough,' Terry says. 'We didn't really celebrate.

'Sometimes it's like that, we've done what we had to do and we've gone undefeated in the group as well which is a big achievement with some tough away games. We're there, that's all we could have done and we've put ourselves in a great position. For myself to be leading the country is a great honour and hopefully we keep everyone fit and go to the finals with a full squad.