Everton 0-2 Chelsea, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

It didn’t take long for the game to settle into its expected state, Chelsea having all of the ball but Everton leaving no spaces to play in the final third. There was good intensity from the visiting Blues, but little in the way of actual threat.

The home Blues weren’t offering any of that either, with the occasional counter-attack and set piece their only real hope of scoring.

The home crowd certainly did their job to create an advantage for their side, helping to con the referee into several friendly calls and decisions. Chelsea did get drawn into the emotionality of it all, and not in a good way, especially as the first-half wore on, but we escaped without too much lasting trouble.

Moisés Caicedo did rattle the crossbar from a corner routine, but we headed into half-time scoreless.

We may have been denied our fast start in the first-half, but we would not be denied it in the second. Jorrel Hato, released by a Morgan Rogers’ backheel, made an excellent overlapping run, rounded the corner, and found Pedro Neto all alone in the area with an angled ball. Neto took a touch and beat Jordan Pickford down low to give us a 1-0 lead just seconds into the second half.

Chelsea’s confidence was up following the goal, with our intentions becoming a lot more direct and purposeful. Our wing-play was causing Everton all sorts of trouble, and only a miraculous block from Merlin Röhl prevented Rogers from doubling our lead, after Neto rounded his defender, Hato-style on the right. Cole Palmer’s cheeky first-time effort not long after nearly caught Pickford off his line as well.

But as the match moved past the hour-mark, our impetus faded and Everton started exerted some pressure of their own. They were once again helped by some friendly calls, one of which resulted in a free kick, which led to a head injury to Emi Martínez. Our goalkeeper was stretchered off after a lengthy stoppage and treatment, replaced by Mike Penders for the final 20+ minutes.

It took a few minutes for the match to truly spring back into life — though not before another one of our penalty shouts went ignored — but Chelsea were able to keep control of the flow of the game much better than in the first half and keep the home efforts subdued.

And then, just as the clock ticked to 90 minutes, we were able to double our lead, with Neto in the right place at the right time to roll the loose ball into the net, after the same free-kick routine that worked against Bournemouth was blocked.

There were still 11 minutes added on of course due to the earlier stoppage, but the Blues were able to deal with them fairly comfortably, a couple shaky moments aside. In fact, we’d be able to keep a clean sheet, that rarest of achievements for us!

Three points; two goals; one clean sheet! Perfect.