Goalie Howard urges Everton not to underestimate Chelsea

Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard says they won't be fooled by Chelsea's lowly league position when they head to Stamford Bridge for their next English Premier League (EPL) encounter here on Saturday.

The reigning champions find themselves in 14th position in the EPL table after a difficult start to the season. Their struggles ultimately cost head coach Jose Mourinho his job, but Chelsea have been much-improved under new head coach Guus Hiddink.

Chelsea are unbeaten under the Dutchman, winning two of five games with him at the helm, and Howard knows Everton face a difficult test in the capital.

"I think when you are a player and on the inside of things, you don't really take too much notice of what's being said about a club. When you look at Chelsea's squad list, the names just show you how much quality they have," the American footballer told evertonfc.com on Thursday.

"They are world class players. Whether they have come together and gelled as a cohesive unit, on the day that is not something that you concern yourself with. If we don't press them and get up against them then they will show us why they are a top club and a top team."

Everton will face both Chelsea and Swansea City before the second leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Manchester City.

But, despite having such a mammoth fixture on the horizon, Howard says the focus will remain on whoever is up next against them.

"The games keep coming wave after wave. We have just dusted ourselves down after the City game and we are trying to recover as quickly as possible," the 36-year-old added.

"Chelsea had a game at the same time, so they will have done the same thing. We have got (to get) our heads down from now until at least the end of the month, because the games keep coming. But we know how to prepare and how to recover, so we'll just keep doing that."