Key events
Chelsea’s win sends them fourth in the Premier League. They’ll stay there all weekend unless Brentford beat Liverpool in the upcoming 3pms or if Brighton lose 10-0 at home (!) to arch-rivals Crystal Palace (!!) on Sunday.
Updated at 09.53 EDT
Pedro Neto speaks to TNT. “We are really pleased … a shame for Emi but we wish him all the best … this win is for him … a clean sheet in his honour … in the second half we adjusted some stuff … we are really happy … [his calm finishing] comes a little bit from the new coach of the [Portugal] national team [Jorge Jesus] who says when you are near to the area you have to pass to the goal … we came here with personality and good intention to win the match.”
Two calm slots from Pedro Neto bookended the second half, and decided this game. It was a proper scrap in the first half, but once Neto opened the scoring 44 seconds into the second period, Chelsea assumed total control. Moises Caicedo nearly scored one of the all-time great volleys, too; the side he captained were deserved winners. The only black spot for Chelsea was the worrying head/neck injury to Emi Martinez, who has been taken to hospital. Here’s to his full and speedy recovery.
ShareFULL TIME: Everton 0-2 Chelsea
Chelsea win at Everton! They don’t do that too often.
90 min +12: Neto, his work bookending this half, makes way for Quenda.
90 min +11: Palmer goes in late on Branthwaite, clipping the big defender’s toe. Just a ticking off from the referee, which is just as well, because he’s on a booking.
90 min +10: Chelsea are 60 seconds or so away from their first Premier League clean sheet since January! It’ll snap a 23-game run.
90 min +9: Owen Hargreaves names Pedro Neto as his player of the match. Not a huge surprise.
90 min +8: Barry crosses deep from the right, forcing Neto into the concession of a corner. Garner swings it into the mixer. Penders flaps and misses. He wants a free kick, but doesn’t get one, and a goal kick will do.
90 min +6: Chelsea sit back, holding their shape. Everton knock it hither and yon, but there’s nothing doing right now and time’s running out.
90 min +4: George slips Dewsbury-Hall into space down the left. Dewsbury-Hall chops past the cold-starting Lavia, and teases the ball through the six-yard box. Johnson extends a leg, but can’t connect. That was a fine move, so close to putting this match back in the balance. But here we are.
90 min +2: Chelsea make a triple change. Pedro, Hato and Caicedo make way for Welbeck, Palestra and Lavia.
90 min +1: There will be 11 added minutes.
ShareGOAL! Everton 0-2 Chelsea (Neto 90)
The free kick is in Palmer Country. Pretty central, 25 yards out. Palmer’s delivery isn’t all that, clanking into the wall. The ball drops in a crowded box to Neto, who takes a beat before passing carefully into the bottom left. A lucky break, but an exquisite finish!
Pedro Neto passes in his and Chelsea’s second! Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 09.36 EDT
89 min: Norgaard tugs at Palmer’s shirt as the Chelsea attacker advances down the inside-right channel. Into the book he goes. An inauspicious start to his Everton career.
88 min: Mykolenko throws long from the left. Penders catches then drops, but eventually tidies up his mess. “One of recent changes for the better in football is that concussions are taken much more seriously than they were,” writes Kári Tulinius. “I don’t have to think far back to remember watching players keep going with clear signs of confusion, and them being treated as figures of fun. Hopefully Martinez recovers quickly from his injury.”
86 min: With Everton pressing for the equaliser, Chelsea launch a three-on-one counter. They butcher it, Pedro eventually bashing a shot from a tight angle straight at Pickford.
85 min: Everton make a double change. Grealish and Armstrong make way for Johnson and, making his Everton debut, Norgaard. “The booing by the Evertonions whilst Martinez was being stretchered off is infuriating,” writes Rob Coughlin. “It makes me want to turn off the match. I won’t.”
84 min: Penders passes the test with flying colours. The corner’s half cleared, then Garner swings in from the left. Penders takes command, racing to the edge of his box and punching powerfully clear.
83 min: George nicks the ball off Acheampong down the left, and wins a corner. Big test for Penders coming up, because he’s got a lot of blue shirts around him.
82 min: A speculative ball bouncing down the left. Rogers brings it down and looks to turn Tarkowski, who catches him from behind, just inside the box … but neither referee nor VAR show any interest in awarding a spot kick. That’s pretty strange. Chelsea have to make do with a corner, from which Palmer tries to curl into the top left from close range. Wide, but not by much. Everton have got away with one there.
80 min: TNT report that Martinez has been taken to hospital. There’s no other news of his condition.
78 min: That lengthy stoppage has understandably dampened the mood at the Hill Dickinson. The game’s restarted … but it’s not really got going again.
76 min: Branthwaite has clearly passed concussion protocols, because he’s continuing to play. TNT didn’t show the collision in close detail, which is for the best, but the aforementioned Owen Hargreaves reports that it was a big one.
74 min: Martinez is finally put onto the stretcher. He’s moving his arms, which is a good sign, but the poor man’s face is etched in serious pain as he’s carried down the tunnel. A smattering of boos, which is both odd and unwelcome. On comes Penders.
Updated at 09.27 EDT
73 min: The Chelsea fans aren’t exactly covering themselves in glory right now, with the old poverty chanting.
72 min: Martinez will be replaced by the highly-rated young Belgian keeper Mike Penders. On TNT, Owen Hargreaves compares him to Thibaut Courtois. No pressure in meeting those expectations, then.
70 min: Pickford ambles up the pitch to see how Martinez is. The goalkeepers’ union in action. The medical staff of course cutting no corners in their duty of care to the stricken keeper.
68 min: Branthwaite is back up on his feet. That’s the good news. But Martinez has taken a proper whack, and it will take a wee while for the doctors to carefully load the Villa keeper onto the stretcher.
67 min: Branthwaite is sitting up. Martinez remains prone, and on comes the stretcher.
66 min: Caicedo drags down Armstrong, 30 yards out on the left. Palmer is then booked, either for saying too much about the award of a foul, or punching the ball away in frustration. Either way. The free kick’s then sent into the mixer by Dewsbury-Hall. It’s a decent delivery, a ball there to be won. Martinez comes out, Branthwaite races in, and the pair clash heads. Ugh. On come the medical folk.
Emi Martinez and and Jarrad Branthwaite clash going for the ball. Photograph: Peter Powell/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 09.12 EDT
64 min: Pedro glides in from the right and sends a shot wide left. He’s then caught late by Branthwaite, and isn’t too happy about it, but the referee tells him to get up. It wasn’t the most perfectly timed challenge, to be fair.
63 min: A bit more space for Grealish down the left, Tarkowski finding him with a long creamed diagonal. But he’s offisde. Everton are really struggling to get anything going in the Chelsea final third.
61 min: Grealish launches a couple of sorties down the left in short order. Neither of them come to much.
59 min: The xG at the moment: 0.32 to 1.03. So the scoreline is about right.
57 min: Rogers slides in Palmer down the inside-left channel. Palmer floats a chip over Pickford … and over the bar. That would have been a frisky one.
56 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner. Chelsea have enjoyed 71 percent of possession in this second half.
55 min: Maitland-Niles, a look of hot displeasure flashed towards the bench from narrowed eyes, makes way for George. Rohl will drop back to right-back … and his first act is to block Rogers’ shot from ten yards. Neto with some great work down the right to set Rogers up.
53 min: Palmer cuts in from the right and shoots. Dewsbury-Hall blocks and the ball spins back to Pickford. Everton need to clear their heads and quick.
52 min: Acheampong advances down the right and sends a dangerous cross into the mixer. Harrison is forced to divert behind for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but this is all Chelsea. David Moyes is preparing a change.
51 min: Chelsea stroke it around. Well, that’s not going to help the mood at the HDS, is it.
49 min: That’s silenced a good proportion of the HDS. Chelsea fans the only ones to be heard at the moment.
47 min: Pickford stands with hands on hips. He’s fuming. That was a brilliantly incisive move by Chelsea, though once again Maitland-Niles hasn’t covered himself in glory. Hato slipped past him way too easily.
Updated at 08.41 EDT
GOAL! Everton 0-1 Chelsea (Neto 46)
A mere 44 seconds into the second half, Chelsea take the lead! Rogers powers his way down the left, holding off Maitland-Niles before releasing Hato on the overlap with a saucy back-heel. Hato enters the box, easily zipping past Maitland-Niles, chasing back, and crosses low for Neto, who takes a touch and slots into the bottom right!
Pedro Neto breaks the deadlock in the first move of the second half. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 08.42 EDT
Chelsea get the second half started. No changes. Meanwhile here’s Gary Naylor from his seat at the Hill Dickinson: “I’m not sure we’ll mark 24 years with ‘Remember the name! Thierno Barry!’ but we’ve a London club in the October sunshine again. Everton have never had so many technically impressive players – but Chelsea have more. Final score: 1-1.”
(The Rooney/Barry dynamic similarly applies to Tyldesley/Matterface)Share
Half-time postbag, courtesy of both of our readers. “Chelsea, with their ultra talented attacking front line, wants to play the beautiful game. Everton says no, how about a beer League shin kicking affair” – Mary Waltz (an Evertonian, please remember)
“You can’t really expect much dynamism when the toffees are playing the pensioners” – Richard Hirst
ShareHALF TIME: Everton 0-0 Chelsea
A huge load of nothing until Armstrong put in an old-school reducer midway through the half … since when it’s been super-feisty. A few challenges on the edge of legality. And Caicedo nearly scored one of the all-time great volleys. Great fun, with the usual think-of-the-kids caveat.
45 min +2: One corner from the left leads to another, and Pedro’s flick-on nearly squeaks into the bottom right. Armstrong clears off the line!
45 min +1: A bit of space for Neto, cutting in from the right and looping a shot towards the top right. Pickford tips over.
45 min: There will be three additional minutes.
44 min: Rogers was a little bit higher than Garner – he’s off the ground, and catches his opponent’s shin – and Garner comes off worst. Happily no serious injury. But Garner’s not happy, and the crowd are now beyond livid. This is fun.
Updated at 08.19 EDT
43 min: Garner and Rogers compete for a 50-50 in the middle of the park. Both slightly out of control. Oof! Both stay down. Quite a few unhappy players surround the referee.
42 min: That was one hell of a shot by Caicedo. Blimey.
40 min: Palmer wins a corner off Armstrong down the left. Henderson sends it long for Caicedo, to the right of the D, just inside the box. He’s facing away from goal, but nevertheless connects with the volley so sweetly. It cannons off the junction of right-hand post and crossbar, nearly rendering the frame of the goal as splinters. Dust. What a strike! So close to the goal of the season.
39 min: Barry hurt himself in taking that shot, and requires a spot of treatment. Looks like he’ll be fine, but he’ll need to spend some time on the touchline before getting involved again.
37 min: It’s Mykolenko’s turn to chop, seeing off Acheampong down the left and rolling into the middle for Barry, who threads a shot towards the bottom left. But there’s no juice behind it, and it tinkles through to Martinez.
35 min: … so yeah, this game needed a spark, and it got one all right, courtesy of Armstrong. Now everyone’s on the edge, and you wouldn’t put too much money on this ending with the full complement of 22 men.
33 min: Acheampong goes into the book for hanging a leg across Grealish. The free kick leads to a brouhaha, Tarkowski needlessly barging Caicedo to the floor. Henderson takes offence. The pair take a hold of each other’s shirt. Rogers gets involved. And then Tarkowski and Rogers go into the book.
Now now lads!
Photograph: Mike Egerton/PAShare
Updated at 08.14 EDT
31 min: Pedro and Tarkowski come together in the Everton box. Pedro spins his man; Tarkowski holds his arm. Pedro goes over and wants a penalty. He’s not getting one, though VAR takes a look … and you’ve seen them given.
João Pedro of Chelsea goes down in there penalty area under a challenge from James Tarkowski. Photograph: Paul Currie/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 08.10 EDT