Everton 3-1 Chelsea
- Goals: Richarlison (£7.8m), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.7m) x2 | Mateo Kovacic (£5.3m)
- Assists: Djibril Sidibe (£5.3m), Tom Davies (£5.3m)
- Bonus: Calvert-Lewin x3, Kovacic x2, Sidibe x1
Tammy Abraham (£7.9m), Mason Mount (£6.6m) and Christian Pulisic (£7.5m) all drew blanks in Gameweek 16, much to the frustration of their respective owners.
Having conceded 10 goals in the last three Gameweeks, Everton appeared to there for the taking but Duncan Ferguson’s introduction on the touchline, and his use of a 4-4-2 formation saw a totally different Toffees side in action against Chelsea.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.7m) was the chief beneficiary from the change in system as he bagged a scrappy brace to ensure three points for the Toffees after Mateo Kovacic (£5.3m) had matched Richarlison‘s (£7.8m) opener.
On the two-goal striker, Ferguson exclaimed:
I love Dominic [Calvert-Lewin]. I think he’s a very good player.
Richarlison scored the first goal of Ferguson’s interim reign with a header that the ex-Everton frontman would have been proud of. That was the Brazilian’s third goal in as many Premier League games.
Playing alongside Calvert-Lewin in an old-school two-man strike-force set-up, Richarlison nodded home from a Djibril Sidibe (£5.3m) cross after Everton played the ball wide having won it from Chelsea in midfield.
Ferguson and his backroom staff had planned on getting at Frank Lampard’s men down their left-hand side, as he explained:
We talked in the analysts’ meeting about the wee bit of space we could get down that side [for the first goal].
It was blood-and-thunder stuff from the Toffees in the opening 25 minutes, with Chelsea failing to test Jordan Pickford (£5.4m) as Everton’s pressure on the ball told.
Theo Walcott (£6.2m) almost found Richarlison with a low cross in the 11th minute, while Calvert-Lewin shot straight at Kepa (£5.5m) after a pass from the ex-Arsenal man.
Michael Keane (£5.3m) was fortunate that Chelsea didn’t punish his giveaway near the Everton area after 18 minutes as a heavy touch from Willian (£7.1m) blew the opportunity.
As the half wore on, Ferguson’s men grew slightly wearier as Chelsea came close to scoring a number of times. Abraham was just off connecting with a Mount cross from the left on 32 minutes and did not get enough contact on a Willian ball from the other side just before that.
Chelsea’ no. 9 was second only to Calvert-Lewin for expected goal involvement (xGI) in GW16’s early kick-off.
The Toffees once more burst out of the traps after half time, with Calvert-Lewin doubling their lead having outmuscled Andreas Christensen (£4.9m) on the edge of the Chelsea box.
Richarlison then drove an attempt inside the box straight at Kepa before a Chelsea attack at the other end saw the Blues pull a goal back.
A cross from Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.8m) – operating at left-back – was cleared by Lucas Digne (£5.8m) into the path of Mateo Kovacic (£5.3m), who found the corner of Pickford’s net with a fantastic volley.
In the 59th minute, Walcott – as appeared to be the habit of Everton attackers – fired a shot at Kepa from an acute angle inside the box.
Azpilicueta was again Chelsea’s creator in the 79th minute, teeing up a Mount volley which was blocked by his namesake Mason Holgate (£4.4m). Pickford then saved a follow-up effort from the Spanish full-back.
Calvert-Lewin wrapped up three points for Everton in the 85th minute after a poor mistake from Kepa. The Chelsea keeper passed the ball straight to Walcott, who found DCL in the area.
His backheel gave Tom Davies (£5.3m) the chance to score but N’Golo Kante‘s (£5.0m) defensive efforts saw the ball spill to Calvert-Lewin, who made no mistake from close range.
Pulisic had a late opportunity to reduce the arrears but his header inside the area was easily saved by England no. 1 Pickford.
Ferguson added on his players:
They were a credit to the football club. A reaction we were looking for.
For his part, Lampard was not impressed with how Chelsea conceded. Asked if Everton’s goals were a case of sloppiness from his team, the Blues boss responded:
Yeah. The first goal, we’re aware that Richarlison is good in the air. The other two were just really poor defending from us. We looked like we were getting back into the game at 2-1, we can’t give away [those] ridiculous goals.
Everton XI (4-4-2): Pickford; Digne, Keane, Holgate, Sidibe; Iwobi, Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson, Walcott. ; Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin.
Chelsea XI (4-2-3-1): Kepa; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, James; Kovacic, Kante; Pulisic, Mount, Willian; Abraham.
4 years, 4 months agoAnother day, another first another top of the world.
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