Everton 1-0 Chelsea
Chelsea’s impressive 17-match unbeaten run in all competitions – nine coming in the Premier League – finally came to an end at the hands of Everton.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s first-half goal from the penalty spot was enough to give the struggling Toffees a much-needed victory in front of their fans at Goodison Park.
It was a disappointing setback for the Blues, who – as SBOTOP pointed out in our preview of this match – came into their clash well-rested, but they still failed to take advantage of a shorthanded Everton side that was missing star James Rodriguez and both starting full-backs.
Highlights of the game
The big Premier League 2020 news for Everton ahead of the Chelsea clash was that star playmaker James Rodriguez would miss out due to injury.
The Premier League 2020 betting odds were already against Everton by a significant amount even before news of James’ injury broke, so the fact that the Colombian joined full-backs Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne as significant absentees for the Toffees made those odds even worse.
Those injuries forced Carlo Ancelotti to a host of changes as he played centre-backs Mason Holgate and Ben Godfrey at full-back, Alex Iwobi on the left wing, and Gylfi Sigurdsson at central midfield.
Despite those absentees, it was the home side that made the brighter start. Richarlison forced an early save from Eduoard Mendy, and Yerry Mina sent a header from a corner just over the bar.
And Everton were handed a huge opportunity to take the lead on 21 minutes as Mendy charged off his line and clattered Dominic Calvert-Lewin to concede a penalty. Captain Gylfi Sigurdsson stepped up and calmly rolled the ball past Mendy to hand Everton the early lead.
Chelsea almost struck back minutes later as Jordan Pickford had to parry away a powerfully hit Reece James free-kick. And on the ensuing corner, Pickford produced an even better save to deny James as his fingertips just pushed the Chelsea right-back’s long-range shot into the post.
Kurt Zouma, who scored in Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Leeds last week, was the next to test Pickford with a shot from point-blank range, but the Everton and England No. 1 was once again equal to it.
After absorbing so much pressure for most of the first half, Everton had a good chance to double their lead just before the break. Sigurdsson released Richarlison for a quick counterattack, but the Brazilian couldn’t beat Mendy with his sliding shot.
Chelsea quickly came back the other way, and Pickford very nearly undid all his good work as he collided with his own team-mate, Yerry Mina, while trying to clear a long ball into the box. Luckily for him, Abdoulaye Doucoure was on hand to deny Olivier Giroud from getting a clear shot away.
Pickford apparently didn’t learn his lesson as he again charged forward to try and clear a long ball to start the second half. But again, he was lucky Chelsea were unable to capitalise as Mason Mount’s effort just went over the crossbar.
Richarlison would then get another chance to extend Everton’s advantage, but Mendy was again on hand to make the save. Sigurdsson also came close to adding another goal to his name with a free-kick that whistled just over the bar.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin thought he’d won another penalty just after the hour mark, but it was correctly waved off by VAR, which determined the Everton striker was offside.
With just nine minutes to go, Mount had Chelsea’s best chance to equalise via free-kick, but his brilliant curling effort hit the base of the post.
In the end, it just wasn’t to be for Chelsea as Everton held on to claim a much-needed win in their first game in front of their fans at Goodison Park this season.
Key statistics
Chelsea completely bossed possession of this match as they controlled an incredible 72 per cent of possession at Goodison. But despite having so much of the ball, the Blues could only come up with 10 shots on target, while the home side had nine.
Olivier Giroud, who came into the match in such fine form with five goals in his last two starts, was relatively quiet as he had just two shots.
Meanwhile, Dominic Calvert-Lewin – the Premier League’s leading scorer with 11 goals – was relatively quiet with just one shot on goal.
The win is now Everton’s third in a row at home against Chelsea and they are four matches unbeaten against the Blues at Goodison.
What’s next?
Everton have made a promising start to what could be a tough holiday fixture list for them. Their next two matches see them go away to Leicester in midweek and at home against Arsenal.
Chelsea also have some challenging fixtures coming up, the first of which will be at Molineux against Wolves in midweek. Then they have back-to-back London derbies against high-flying West Ham and at Arsenal.
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