Pedro Neto struck twice in the second half as Chelsea moved fourth in the Premier League and ended Everton’s unbeaten start to the top-flight season with victory at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
End of Portugal Neto he pounced seconds after the restart to put the Blues ahead after Morgan Rogers’ backheel to allow Jorrel Hato to cross from the left, then repeated the trick after a free-kick hit the Everton defensive wall and fell kindly in the 90th minute.
Moises Caicedo hit the woodwork from distance in the first half and visiting goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was withdrawn after Neto’s opener following a collision with Toffees Jarrad Branthwaite, which led to 11 minutes of added time.
Everton vs Chelsea: Blues’ ‘cutting edge’ pays off
everton he had drawn four and won two of his first six games and pushed Chelsea hard for much of a hard-fought contest, including five bookings in the opening 34 minutes.
Jack Grealish had a first-half shot tipped over the bar by Martinez, who reportedly went to hospital after being replaced by Mike Penders.
Former England defender Stuart Pearce called the game “even”. “Chelsea just had a bit more of an edge in the overall game,” Pearce told TalkSport.
“There was very little to choose between the teams in the first half. Even after I scored the first goal, I didn’t feel Chelsea were threatened in any way.”
Everton vs Chelsea team
Everton made two changes from their draw at Hull, bringing in defender Vitalii Mykolenko and midfielder Merlin Rohl for Michael Keane and Brennan Johnson.
Branthwaite was fit to start after suffering a problem at the MKM Stadium. Mykolenko returned after missing that match due to injury.
Everton: Jordan Pickford, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite, Vitalii Mykolenko, James Garner, Harrison Armstrong, Merlin Rohl, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jack Grealish, Thierno Barry
Substitutes: Mark Travers, Jake O’Brien, Tyrique George, Tyler Dibling, Christian Norgaard, Brennan Johnson, Charly Alcaraz, Hayden Hackney, Braiden Graham
Chelsea vs Everton team
Jorrel Hato replaced Pep Chavarria in defense in Chelsea’s only change since their win over Bournemouth. Midfielder Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, 16, made his debut in a 3-0 defeat at Brentford in their last away game on September 18 and this time he was on the bench.
Emanuel Emegha (hamstring) and Jamie Gittens (ankle) remain out. Reece James requires knee surgery.
Chelsea: Emiliano Martínez, Josh Acheampong, Maxence Lacroix, Levi Colwill, Jorrel Hato, Moises Caicedo, Jordan Henderson, Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro
Substitutes: Mike Penders, Wesley Fofana, Marco Palestra, Valentin Barco, Romeo Lavia, Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, Willian Estevao, Geovany Quenda, Danny Welbeck
Everton vs Chelsea Premier League Stats, Form
- Everton failed to make it back-to-back Premier League wins against Chelsea for the first time since beating them in March and December 2019 under Marco Silva and Duncan Ferguson respectively.
- Only in 2006/07 had Everton had a longer run without a win from the start of a campaign in the competition (first 7).
- Although Everton manager David Moyes has never won in 21 Premier League attempts at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, he has won eight of his last 14 home games against the Blues (D2 L4), with those split between four wins at Everton and four at West Ham.
- Chelsea had won one of their previous nine Premier League away games at Everton (2-D6), a 1-0 win in August 2022.
- They had failed to score in seven of those games, including the previous three, and lost 3-0 on their first visit to the Hill Dickinson Stadium in March.
- The last time Chelsea suffered defeat in their opening two Premier League games at one stadium was at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light in 1999/00 (4-1) and 2000/01 (1-0).
- Despite being the Premier League’s third-highest scorers this season, no team had conceded more this season than Chelsea (13) before the start of Saturday’s action.
- Chelsea ended a run of 22 games without a clean sheet in the league which had been their second longest such streak, after 31 games between November 1960 and August 1961.
Latest updated Premier League table
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position 1, 2, 3, 4: Promotion – Champions League (League phase)
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position 5: Promotion – Europa League (League phase)
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position 18, 19, 20: Relegation – Championship
