Chelsea 6 Everton 0
Mauricio Pochettino needs to spark his Chelsea team into some sort of form for the remainder of the season to try and salvage something from their league campaign. Everton were the visitors to Stamford Bridge, desperate for points to secure their Premier League status.
The Toffees started in positive mood and looked to take the game to the hosts. Some good interplay saw Young find Coleman on the overlap out wide. He put in a teasing ball into the six yard box which Beto managed to put over the bar from two yards out.
If you replicated this chance as a ‘Phoenix from the Flames’ segment on Fantasy Football League, the outtakes would no doubt show how they had scored the goal in the first ninety-nine takes. It was an unbelievable miss from the Portuguese forward.
Sean Dyche’s side paid the ultimate price as Palmer played a neat flick to Jackson, who returned it back into his path as the youngster bent his shot into the far corner with Pickford unable to keep it out. It was a great strike by the Chelsea attacker.
Credit: @premierleague
Cole Palmer stands out like a sore thumb in this Chelsea side. He is proof that if you spend £1.3bn on 30 players, eventually, you will sign a good one. It has only taken just under two years but finally Todd Boehly has secured the services of an actual talented footballer.
Mudryk then got to the byline and cut the ball back to Jackson, whose shot was saved by Pickford. The short-armed stopper parried the ball back into the danger area and Palmer was there to head into an empty net to double the hosts’ lead.
The Everton keeper was having his very own ‘Nightmare on Old Brompton Road’ in West London and miskicked a pass straight to Palmer. The former Man City attacker lofted it over Pickford and into the net to seal a first half hat-trick to put the game pretty much to bed after 29 minutes.
Just before half time, Cucurella whipped a cross in from out wide and it was well controlled by Jackson in the box before he swivelled and shot into the bottom corner. At this point, Everton were sinking without a trace and this was starting to get embarrassing.
The visitors managed to keep Pochettino’s side out for nearly twenty minutes after the restart before Palmer was fouled by Doucoure. The referee pointed to the spot and then the comedy sketch that is Chelsea Football Club had another instalment for us all.
Madueke and Jackson fought over the ball to see who would take the penalty. It involved a lot of pushing and shoving until Palmer finally took it off them. Gallagher then had to push both players away from the hat-trick hero before he could take the penalty.
Credit: @premierleague
Pochettino is looking to get his squad to gel and has been given a very un-Chelsea-like amount of time to do so. Seeing their players fighting each other over the spot kick showed that The Blues are still a long way from being anywhere near this intended goal.
Cole Palmer stepped up and sent Jordan Pickford the wrong way as he slotted the ball into the bottom corner to bag his fourth goal of the evening. It was turning into a rare night of positivity in West London, making fans forget about the exorbitant price of their tickets.
Just before the end of Everton’s torturous evening, Chilwell struck from a wide position, forcing a save from Pickford. Gilchrist was there to smash home the rebound and give Pochettino’s side their biggest win of his reign in the Premier League.
Victory moved The Blues up to ninth in the table and with sixth-placed Newcastle only three points ahead of Chelsea, some form of European football qualification is now seeming a realistic possibility. Pochettino’s side have games in hand over all of the teams above them.
The big take home from this game was the undeniable quality of Cole Palmer. In fact, the reality that Chelsea only paid £42.5m for the 21-year-old should be the 116th charge Man City face from the Premier League. Surely his form this season is something even Gareth Southgate cannot ignore.
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