Everton came out on top against a wasteful Chelsea side, with Steven Naismith heading in the only goal of the game.
Roberto Martinez's side dominated the early stages with the threat of Naismith and Coleman causing Cole all sorts of trouble. With Hazard starting in front of Cole, he left his team-mate in all sorts of trouble as he didn't track back for large amounts of the first half. Once Chelsea weathered the early exchanges, they started to grow into the match. Starting with a cross from the right wing from Eto'o which fell to the feet of Ramires who touched and volleyed towards goal, only to be denied by a great save by Howard. Shürrle looked dangerous for Chelsea in the first half and he almost got on the scoresheet as he was put threw down the flank one on one with Howard and attempted a delightful chip over the American that just hit the side-netting.
With the first 40 minutes of the match, chess-like, with Everton not wanting to pour everyone forward, and Chelsea waiting to pounce on the counter it was intriguing to watch for everyone at Goodison. Although, at times they were getting increasingly frustrated as the home team had numerous chances to loft the ball into Distin and co. from free-kicks from all around Chelsea's half, but instead chose to pass it short. This was obviously a tactic Martinez wants to integrate into Everton's style of play as they even did this in the last few minutes of the first half. With Everton cranking up the pressure in the last 5 minutes and being camped outside Chelsea's box they remained patient moving their opposition around. They finally breached Chelsea's defence as the ball fell to Osman who crossed to the far post which somehow reached Jelavic who superbly headed the ball across goal to find Naismith waiting to head in. A goal before halftime? Priceless.
The second half was completely different to the first. Chelsea started very brightly as they pressured Everton all over the pitch which made their defence nervous and if Chelsea were to score it needed to be in the first 20 minutes of the second half. Mourinho rolled the dice within the first 13 minutes with a double substitution. He brought on Lampard and Oscar for Shürrle and Mata hoping it would force a goal with Chelsea's constant pressure but they couldn't defeat Howard. Eto'o in particular was constantly frustrating as he wasted opportunity after opportunity. Matters didn't get any better when Mourinho brought Torres on for Cole for the last 20 minutes. Usually a team will be wary of a manger changing a left back for a striker, but did it worry the Everton defence? Nope. Everton saw the rest of the game out easily with their possession game paying dividends when they needed to give their defence a break.
Barkley was impressive as he took on Chelsea players each time he had the ball. Sometimes his inexperience showed as his decision making wasn't the best, but no one could argue he held his own against a class Chelsea midfield. The major talking point of the game may have come in the last five minutes, as Chelsea had a corner which Everton dealt with comfortably. After, the ball fell to Barkley on the edge of his own box and he unleashed Mirallas just before the halfway line with a delightful ball, only for Luiz to hold and tackle Mirallas to the ground. Luiz received a yellow card which disgruntled the Toffee fans because it was clear that Mirallas would've been through on goal as nobody would've caught him.
Although Everton played well, kept possession, and missed a few chances as well, Chelsea fans should be disappointed as their strikers were once again, wasteful. One may have thought that their goal problem would be sorted with the signing of the experienced Eto'o, but as predicted in my preview, he was rusty and not yet match fit.
From an Everton point of view, it was a fantastic result. Martinez may have been disappointed that his side drawing his first 3 games in charge, but it seems to be worth it as he recorded his first professional win of his Everton career, and what a better place than his new home of Goodison Park.
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