It was an exciting day of football at Goodison Park as Roberto Martinez’s Everton took on Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.
Striker Diego Costa did not train much the past week and was on the injured list before the game, but was named to the starting lineup anyway. In spite of the injury concerns, Costa gave Chelsea an early lead after just 36 seconds after kick-off, putting a through-ball from Cesc Fabregas in between the legs of American keeper, Tim Howard.
Everton’s hope of winning their first three points seemed to fade away, when after that early goal and with just three minutes gone in the game, sloppy defending led to an easy goal for Branislav Ivanovic to give Chelsea a two-goal lead.
Despite the two-goal deficit, Everton continued to play well, and the home crowd continued to cheer them on until — finally — in the last minute before the half, Seamus Coleman’s cross was headed past Thibaut Courtois by Kevin Mirallas to cut Chelsea’s lead in half and put Everton back in the game.
In the 67th minute, Eden Hazard took on James McCarthy on the wing and tried to cross the ball back towards the penalty spot, but an unfortunate touch by Coleman was enough to deflect the ball towards the near post and slide right past Howard, who had no chance of stopping it. Even though the game seemed to be out of reach for Everton, they continued to fight. Less than two minutes after Chelsea’s 3rd, a counter attack by Kevin Mirallas and a final touch from Steven Naismith cut Chelsea’s lead down to 3-2 .
Everton was playing well in the midfield and was attacking in numbers. It seemed sure that their players would find an equalizer, but ultimately, Chelsea’s attack was too strong for them. In the 73rd minute, Nemaja Matic fired one from just outside the 18-yard box into the left-hand corner of Howard’s goal that gave him no chance to even react made it 4-2. The action was not done, however, and ex-Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o bagged his first goal for Everton in his debut by heading a free kick past Courtois just two minutes after Matic’s goal to make it 4-3. This game forced fans to keep their eyes open for fear of missing a single moment if they blinked.
Two minutes later, Chelsea showed Everton that there was no use for their efforts, as Ramires linked up on a 1-2 with Matic inside the box and toe-poked his shot into the opposite corner of the goal, and then Muhamed Besic’s debut for Everton turned disastrous when on his first touch of the ball in the Premier League, he attempted to back heel the ball towards Phil Jagielka. The pass was intercepted by John Obi Mikel, who then played to ball on to Costa, who confidently took on Distin and Howard to score his second goal of the game.
Final score: Chelsea 6, Everton 3.
Everton has shown some promising performances during the first few weeks of the league, but it has not yet gotten the elusive win. Kevin Mirallas had an inspiring performance, scoring once and playing very well. Everton played well together, but there are some leaks to patch in the defense if they are to fight for a top spot this year again.
Meanwhile, Chelsea is showing right away that it is a front runner to win the league this year. Costa already has four goals in his first three games for Chelsea while Fabregas has picked up four assists in the same number of games.
Photo Credit: Laurence Griffiths, Getty Images Sport