22 December 2024
Everton 0 Chelsea 0
Everton welcomed Chelsea to Goodison Park as their new owners were in attendance. Things seemed to be starting to brighten up on the blue side of Liverpool. However, any result against Enzo Maresca’s side would inadvertently be doing their local rivals a big favour. The Toffees would need to show their professionalness to put that to the back of their thoughts.
It was a stormy day with the wind howling and rain hammering down. Maybe even more so than the weekend that their Merseyside derby was cancelled in fact. Chelsea carved open the first chance of the game when Palmer picked out Jackson in the box. Pickford made a good reaction save with his feet but The Blues’ striker really should have done better.
Having held Arsenal to a goalless draw at The Emirates last weekend, confidence was high with Sean Dyche’s Everton. They knew that Chelsea would have the lion’s share of possession and they were going to need to stay solid at the back to get anything from this one. This after all is a ground where the visitors have a good record historically.
The visitors forced a corner and it came through everyone to an unmarked Jackson. He headed it onto the post and it ricocheted back out to Gusto. Pickford came steaming off his line and lunged into a tackle as the Chelsea full-back’s effort went wide of the target. The Blues weren’t happy and were demanding a penalty.
VAR checked the incident and classed it not as a reckless challenge but a save from the goalkeeper. Every week the VAR studio makes you wonder whether this is actually Ant and Dec’s segment ‘get me out of ear’. The rationale they give for their decisions are getting more ridiculous by the minute. It won’t be long before they start citing the alignment of the planets in the solar system.
Everton had created very little in the game but Ndiaye showed some great footwork to set Doucoure free. He strode towards goal before laying it off to Mangala. His shot into the bottom corner was well-saved by Sanchez. As the ball was played to him, Doucoure was scythed down by Fernandez on the edge of the penalty area. Why it wasn’t pulled back for the foul is truly baffling.
Applying the rules of the game in a consistent manner is pretty much the job description of being an official in the Premier League. Yet, despite this, you could look at identical periods of play from different matches and all of them would be dealt with completely differently. Howard Webb seems to be doing nothing to improve this but just sees it as more airtime for his ego on TV.
Heading into the interval all square, The Toffees were beginning to frustrate the visitors. That said, Chelsea really hadn’t created enough to warrant the lead. They had dominated possession but that counts for nothing without the end product. If Dyche wanted all three points, he would need to consider his attacking options a little more.
They almost found the goal they craved as Ndiaye played a brilliant ball into an unmarked Harrison at the back post. His finish was poor as Sanchez made a block with his legs. It was by far the best chance of the game that either side had created. The atmosphere at Goodison Park was starting to ramp up a few notches as a result.
Jackson was penalised for a foul out wide and as the resulting free-kick was swung into the box, Tarkowski went down in a heap on the floor. The ball went out for a goal kick and the referee was not interested in their penalty appeals. As Disasi walked past the defender on the ground, he seemed to leave his knee in on the player.
Tarkowski leapt to his feet, with the pushing and shoving beginning. The referee tried to act as peacemaker to prevent things from boiling over. VAR checked the incident and decided there was nothing doing. To be fair, if no action was taken for that Pickford lunge in the first-half, it would seem very harsh to do so here.
Sancho then did well down the left as he slotted a pass in between the lines to Fernandez. The Argentine got a shot away from the edge of the box but it was easily saved by Pickford. It was a poor effort from the £105m man as it was straight at him. This summed up Chelsea’s day up north to be honest, it was severely lacking.
The Toffees almost won the game when Lindstrom got to the byline and struck the ball across goal. Sanchez got a weak hand to the cross and Ndiaye was charging in at the back post. It looked certain that he was going to score, until Tosin put in a superb sliding challenge to block it. Talk about putting your body on the line for the cause.
Sean Dyche’s side are starting to prove themselves as the goalless draw specialists. First Arsenal and now Chelsea. They have Man City on Boxing Day, what price on another one? Chelsea missed the chance to go top of the table and really didn’t seem to have the passion and hunger to get the win that they needed. This is why they are not in a title race.
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