Everton 2 vs Chelsea 0. I’m certainly no fan of clichés but my word, you have to say that Sunday’s game with Chelsea at Goodison was certainly a game of two halves. We’ve all heard commentators and pundits use it and I’ve rolled my eyeballs before now when they have. However, the phrase does have to be used after this game. No question.
After the 2-0 win even Marco Silva confirmed it to a point when he said:
“It would be easier for me just to speak about the second half. The first half I didn’t like it at all, we were not there from the first minute. What we did in the second half was everything we planned during the week. The players showed great attitude, character and personality second half but we have to do it from the first minute.”
EVERTON 2 vs CHELSEA 0
It is true as well, because Chelsea were at us from the moment the whistle went to start the match and if they had scored very early on with the chances they created, it would have been a completely different outcome.
Eden Hazard sometimes doesn’t turn up in certain games, well he certainly turned up at the beginning of this one and could have easily scored twice with two great efforts. His first came after a superb jinking run, but Pickford was well positioned to save the shot easily in the end. Then Hazard hit the woodwork after coming in off the wing and striking the ball sweetly.
By this point I was thinking it was going to be a very long afternoon and I’ll take a draw now if we can hold on, then though Higuain has his effort cleared off the line. It was painful to watch. Chelsea just kept coming and although they didn’t create as many clear-cut chances as in those opening minutes they kept us pegged back.
We created a couple of half-chances and Calvert-Lewin was excellent up front apart from not scoring, but when half-time came and it was still 0-0 it was a massive relief. Well, for 15 minutes. I was expecting the same onslaught in the second-half but credit where credit is due, Silva got into the players, reminded them what they had planned to do and they certainly came out transformed for the next 45 minutes.
Just like what Chelsea did to us in the first-half, we got at them straight away in the second-half with a Gomes shot saved by Kepa. That got the crowd straight up and pumped and the players reacted to that too and within a couple of minutes we’d taken then lead. Richarlison heading in an awkward rebound after Calvert-Lewin’s headed effort wasn’t properly cleared by the Chelsea defense.
How were we now winning after that first-half display? Maybe Chelsea thought they had the game in the bag and although they’d not scored, they may have presumed if they keep playing the way they were the goal would come with ease. How wrong they were as we kept up the intensity and pressure whilst still looking for a second goal.
Finally it came with just less than twenty-minutes to go, unfortunately Sigurdsson’s penalty was saved but he tapped in the rebound from close-range. He might need to be taken off penalties very soon by Silva, as Sigurdsson has now missed three of his last five penalties in the Premier League.
That is also back-to-back home clean sheets after the draw the 0-0 draw with Liverpool the other week, that can only be a good sign. Still, we need to get out of the blocks much more quickly than we did on Sunday because if other teams perform like Chelsea did in that first-half but take their chances, our games could be over very quickly.
