After the disappointing draw with Hull last week, Everton returned to their home on the royal blue Mersey. For Chelsea, the trip to Everton had been a tricky fixture for them. They had won just one of their last nine Premier League road trips against the Toffees, losing six of those. That poor run carried over to the Hill Dickinson when they lost their first visit to the new stadium 3-0 last season.
Team News
Moyes was hesitant to confirm the fitness of Branthwaite, Mykolenko and Norgaard at his press conference
on Friday. In the end, Everton made two changes from the side who drew 2-2 with Hull. Vitalii Mykolenko was back from injury and replaced Michael Keane, while Merlin Rohl came in for Brennan Johnson. Most importantly, Jarrad Branthwaite, started.
Chelsea had to come to grips with the loss of their captain Reece James who will miss three months of action after undergoing knee surgery this week. Chelsea made just one change following their 5-1 win over Bournemouth with Jorrel Hato replacing Pep Chavarria.
Match Report
Chelsea won the toss and chose to switch ends which received a loud boo from the Evertonians. “Forever Everton” was delivered with gusto as the teams took a knee to show their support for their No Room for Racism initiative.
The opening exchanges saw a cagey and physical start as Everton avoided early defensive disaster—something they had struggled with previously this season—while referee Paul Tierney doled out early warnings and cautions. Everton weathered Chelsea’s initial possession spells, where Jack Grealish found plenty of space down the left against a Chelsea back three, though James Garner’s early long-range effort sailed over the bar.
As the half progressed, both sides traded half-chances. Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall probed for Chelsea without finding a clinical edge, while Everton grew into the game through Thierno Barry’s headed chance and a dangerous Grealish volley that required a sharp save from the goalkeeper. Frustrations steadily mounted on both sides as tackles flew in, leading to a flurry of yellow cards and a heated confrontation between James Tarkowski and Moisés Caicedo.
The first half ended in a tense stalemate with tempers flaring. Caicedo came closest to breaking the deadlock just before the break by rattling the crossbar with a powerful volley from a Jordan Henderson corner. A heavy challenge involving Morgan Rogers and Garner left both players down, sparking fierce protests from Everton over a deep gash on Garner’s knee as the teams headed toward three minutes of additional time. Pedro Neto took a pot shot which Pickford palmed over the bar. The resulting corner was headed goalward and was cleared off the line by Armstrong. It was the last action as the half ended.
Chelsea broke the deadlock just 45 seconds into the second half when Pedro Neto capitalized on a Morgan Rogers cutback, squeezing the ball past Jordan Pickford to put the visitors ahead. Everton struggled to regain control, prompting David Moyes to substitute Ainsley Maitland-Niles for Tyrique George and shift Merlin Röhl to right-back. Röhl made an immediate impact by making a crucial block on a goalbound effort from Rogers, keeping Everton within reach.
The match experienced a lengthy stoppage when Chelsea goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez suffered an injury following a contested free kick, leading to his departure on a stretcher. His replacement, Mike Penders, made history by becoming the youngest goalkeeper to play in the Premier League. As play resumed, Everton attempted to spark a response by shifting Jack Grealish and George, while later introducing Brennan Johnson and Christian Nørgaard from the bench.
Despite controlling spells of possession and Penders briefly looking vulnerable after a dropped catch, Everton failed to convert their pressure into clear chances. Chelsea sealed the victory late in the match when Pedro Neto seized on an uncleared free kick to score his second goal. Everton were unable to find a way back during eleven minutes of stoppage time, finishing the second half without a single shot on target.
Everton’s Man of the Match
Vitalii Mykolenko: The return of Mykolenko was a big one for Everton with such a threadbare squad. A balance to the side was returned and the Ukrainian was up against Morgan Rogers who was in fine form heading into the match. He created 2 chances, made 3 defensive contributions and 13 line breaking passes. In a day when there was little to cheer about for Evertonians, the return of Mykolenko was significant.
Instant Reaction
After a very feisty first half, Everton forgot to get turned on quickly enough after the break and the game was done in that moment. Everton could not muster anything in the rest of the match. Zero shots in the 45 minutes allowed Chelsea to coast to victory. A first loss against a team that has scored freely this season should have been expected, but our performance was disappointing. An away trip to Arsenal next week will be another big challenge.
This was our third game this season where we have conceded a goal in the first three minutes of the second half. We have to be ready to go and today the lack of concentration cost us the match. We worked so well in the first half and it was all thrown away in that moment.
The match was a feisty one with five cards being shown in the first half alone. The game was quite stop/start and that suited Everton. It was gritty and it took the focus off the type of game that Chelsea prefers. The half time talk by Alonso changed that and Moyes had no response. In fact, the introduction of Christian Norgaard to mark Cole Palmer seemed ridiculous. To expect a player who has no minutes on the pitch this season to try and neutralise Palmer was setting Norgaard up for failure.
A lot will be made of the missed header by Barry in the first half. It was his 11th big chance missed this season. I liked that Moyes showed support for the young striker by focusing on the fact that you only get good chances when you are in the right places. Barry was so isolated today as Everton struggled to get anything going forward. Let’s continue to support him and allow him to know that we are behind him.
There is never anything good when a goalkeeper goes down. Martinez is a master villain and he draws the ire of many. Branthwaite and Martinez were both going fairly for the ball and we hope that the injury is not so serious. It was disappointing to hear the reaction from the fans as he was booed as his stretcher was taken off the pitch. Footballers put their safety
