Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off on Merseyside was decided in the home side’s favour by a hat-trick from a substitute. An Everton injury early in the game forced the introduction of Steven Naismith and he headed his side into a lead he soon doubled. Asmir Begovic, solid throughout, made an outstanding save to keep the score down.
Chelsea rallied however and a goal-of-the-season contender from Nemanja Matic halved the deficit and put the Blues on the front foot for the remainder of the first half, with John Terry going close and several other goal attempts either blocked or deflected wide.
After the break, the Everton rearguard tightened and opportunities were harder to come by. Jose Mourinho shuffled his attack and the equaliser was chased hard but the result was put beyond doubt when Naismith netted his third inside the final 10 minutes.
In addition to the enforced change in goal, the Chelsea manager opted to bring John Mikel Obi into the starting central midfield alongside Matic, with Cesc Fabregas asked to move into the no.10 role. Willian, the most recent occupant of that position following injury to Oscar, made the furthest journey back from international action midweek and was on the bench, as was Gary Cahill with Kurt Zouma playing alongsideJohn Terry in central defence.
With the Blues coming into this encounter having won our most recent away game but then losing at home to Palace, a trip to Goodison Park was always likely to be a big test.
After a spot of keep-ball at the back, we got forward quickly in the second minute through Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic but the cross was out of the reach of Diego Costa. Everton’s first attack was halted by a timely Zouma challenge on Muhamed Besic inside the area, with Begovic claiming the resulting corner while fouled by Romelu Lukaku in the process.
Zouma‘s tackle on Besic had been a fair one but the Everton midfielder, on his return to their side in place of long-term injury casualty Tom Cleverley, couldn’t recover from it and was replaced by Naismith only nine minutes in. What might have been considered an unwanted disruption to the home side was also reason for some unease among Chelsea supporters. Naismith had found the net in three of his previous six appearances against us.
The substitute was not far away from getting his head to a Seamus Coleman cross two minutes after coming on but to our relief, it cleared him.
Hazard sprung into action when the Toffees got stuck mid passing move in midfield and sent Diego Costaon the chase, but Phil Jagielka was in place to win the race to the ball. Instead it was Everton who took the lead.
Naismith and left-back Brendan Galloway were the players who crucially combined, the pass out wide crossed back deeply into the Chelsea area where the forehead of Naismith scored from close range. Just over quarter-of-an-hour had been played.
From a cross from the other flank by Coleman, Begovic made a brilliant finger-tip save to deny Arouna Kone, and followed it up with another smart stop when James McCarthy tried his luck from distance with a powerful strike.
At that moment those saves appeared important to the visitors’ hopes but the Bosnian was beaten midway through the first half by an even better shot and it was Naismith again doing the damage. The Scotland international was in space some five yards outside the box when he drilled the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
A 2-0 deficit at the midway stage of the half did not reflect the overall balance of the play up to that point, but it undoubtedly was a true test of Chelsea resolve. The response was good.
Azpilicueta tried to turn the tide when he got into the area with 25 minutes played and had a near-post shot touched wide, but Everton continued to look dangerous when they attacked.
It felt like it needed a moment of inspiration to bring Chelsea back into this contest and that is exactly what Matic conjured up with 36 minutes on the clock. From even further out than Naismith and with an even sweeter strike, he beat Tim Howard with ease to hit the net in front of a disbelieving Gwladys Street Stand.
Suddenly the momentum changed and Hazard had Everton back-peddling before his shot was deflected wide, and then Terry headed a cross from the Belgian just over.
Matic went for an unlikely repeat showing of his goal but this time it smashed into a blue shirt and looped well over. Pedro followed soon after with another attempt.
What was now an enthralling match continued on apace after the half-time interval. Zouma was quick to react to a ball going loose in the Everton area but his shot was blocked. However with no clear-cut chances materialising, Mourinho made a change to the side with 10 minutes of the second period played.
Mikel was the man withdrawn, Kenedy coming on for the second game running but this time as a more conventional attacker down the left. Hazard moved more central with Fabregas back deeper with Matic.
The first true opening of the half came Everton’s way when Lukaku got onto the end of a long pass, but the former Chelsea man’s strike was never likely to beat Begovic on this form.
That heralded a spell of Everton pressure with Kone also shooting straight at the Chelsea keeper and Matic doing well to dispossess Ross Barkley in front of goal. That sent us on a counter-attack which ended with Howard getting an unconvincing punch on a cross as Hazard challenged for it in the air.
With 68 minutes played, Falcao was introduced in place of Pedro with Hazard going back out wide. Moments later, brilliance from the Player of the Year put his team on the attack but when Ivanovic found Diego Costa cleverly, there was a heavy touch by the striker inside the box and the chance to shoot disappeared.
A straight swap of Willian for Fabregas followed but the Everton win was sealed by a goal with eight minutes left on the clock. Naismith timed his run well and was found by a ball down the inside-right channel. The angle was against the Everton man but he completed his hat-trick with a low shot.
There were further Chelsea attacks, but Diego Costa couldn’t get power behind a header as he met a Hazard cross.
Attention quickly turns to the start of the Champions League now, with Maccabi Tel Aviv visiting midweek before the next chance to get the Premier League season back on track when Arsenal come to Stamford Bridge.
- Match stats:
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Begovic; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Mikel (Kenedy 55), Matic; Pedro (Falcao 68), Fabregas (Willian 74), Hazard; Diego Costa.
Unused subs Blackman, Cahill, Loftus-Cheek, Remy.
Scorer Matic 36
Booked Azpilicueta 88, Diego Costa 90+2
Everton (4-2-3-1): Howard; Coleman (Funes Mori 77), Stones, Jagielka (c), Galloway; McCarthy, Barry; Kone 72), Barkley, Besic (Naismith 9); Lukaku.
Unused subs Robles, Osman, Deulofeu, Mirallas.
Scorer Naismith 17, 22, 83
Booked Galloway 65, Stones 87
Referee Andre Marriner
Crowd 38,311
- Match report by chelseafc.com
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