AndyC
Player Valuation: £70m
Nap-hand Chelsea crush and embarrass Everton.
Chelsea 5 - 0 Everton
Chelsea 5 - 0 Everton
Brief Summary… a totally confident and at times irresistible Chelsea cruised to victory on Bonfire Night with a display of power, pace, precision, clinical efficiency, sheer self-belief and desire.
As good as Chelsea were, it has to be said that Everton were largely woeful and as such, can there realistically be a MotM hence the No Motm option offered.
Everton went South with a chance to move up to fifth with a win at Stamford Bridge, while the home side were eyeing top spot given Manchester City failing to overcome Middlesbrough at the Etihad.
Ronald Koeman put defence first as he lined us up: Stekelenburg, Oviedo, Funes Mori, Williams, Jagielka, Coleman, Barry, Cleverley, Barkley, Bolasie, and Lukaku – Idrissa Gana Gueye being suspended have totted up five yellow cards.
Antonio Conte went with his now preferred three-man back line as Chelsea lined up: Courtois, Alonso, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill, Moses, Matic, Hazard, Kante, Pedro and Costa.
Bob Madeley was the man in the middle.
A minutes silence for the fallen in numerous military campaigns was observed immaculately prior to kick-off as is the custom so close to Remembrance Sunday, both teams sporting poppies on their blue and yellow shirts.
After a steady start, the home bench and crowd were incensed by a strong challenge by Seamus Coleman on the immensely dislikeable Diego Costa, instant replays showing that Seamus was ever so slightly over the ball in the tackle and his contact on the Chelsea forward drawing a drop of blood, but far from a leg-breaker – no free kick was awarded and Costa was quickly back into the game.
Costa was soon whining at the referee again after he manhandled Jags and expected a decision in his favour – he really is and must be an obnoxious opponent to play against. Yannick Bolasie picked up the game’s first yellow card for a rash challenge on Moses just before the quarter hour mark as Chelsea enjoyed more possession without unduly threatening Stekelenburg in the Everton goal.
Disappointingly, the threat materialised on 18 minutes as Hazard drifted in from the left wing to fire the home side in front despite Pedro being marginally offside. And the home crowd had barely regained their seats when Costa crossed from the right and Alonso beat Stekelenburg through his legs for 2-0.
Everton now needed to react and show some real character as conceding two goals in less than thirty seconds meant the formation simply had to be adjusted to try and afford more attacking opportunities to be created.
Kevin Mirallas was almost instantly sent out to warm-up as RoKo seemed to consider sacrificing one of his rear guard in favour of boosting the attack which at best was stuttering and failing to make any impression on the home defence. The instant switch was however not made.
Jags was then harshly (in my opinion) booked for shouting at the referee after he’d been bundled over the bye line by the mop-haired Luiz and the official awarded a goal kick.
Moses hit the outside of the right hand post with a one-time volley to a left wing cross from Alonso as the home side threatened to run riot.
Ronald Koeman made his move on 36 minutes, withdrawing Bryan Oviedo for Kevin Mirallas with Funes Mori switching to left back as we switched from 5-4-1 to a 4-4-2 formation.
Worse was to come for Everton though as a 42nd minute right wing corner was headed on by Matic and an in-space Costa swept in from twelve yards to complete a dominant first half by the side heading to the top of the table.
And it could have been four as Pedro twisted and turned inside the area before skewing his shot off target...and it most certainly should have been four when Pedro turned sweetly to break down the right flank. He fed Costa who showed a floundering Jagielka a clean pair of heels before seeing his shot beat Stekelenburg but go the wrong side of the post from a Chelsea perspective.
Half Time 3-0 and in all honesty, it could have been much, much worse.
Into the second half and even at half pace, Chelsea appeared to have far too much for a labouring Everton side, Matic and Alonso drawing last-ditch tackles from Williams and Jags respectively.
Stekelenburg had to be quick off his line to foil Costa bursting into the area on the blind side of Jags trying to reach a telling through ball. Chelsea were cruising and purring – neutral fans were watching something of a masterclass from the home side.
And the masterclass was perfectly illustrated in the 56th minute as a sweeping, one-touch passing move ended with Hazard collecting a sublime backheel pass from Pedro before bamboozling Williams and firing home his second with the Everton defence absolutely torn apart and helpless.
Aaron Lennon replaced Bolasie just before the hour mark.
Stekelenburg denied Costa as Chelsea again carved the Everton defence apart ahead of Gareth Barry picking up his firth yellow card of the season and a one-game suspension that will see him miss the Swansea game on the 19th for a foul on Hazard.
Chelsea went nap in the 65th minute as once again, Costa consummately beat Jags in midfield, fed Hazard in space on the left and his parried shot was finished by Pedro.
Tom Davies came on to replace Gareth Barry as many of the travelling fans decided enough was enough and headed for the exit.
The impressive Pedro was replaced to a standing ovation with twenty minutes still to play as Chelsea brought on Oscar as they demonstrated the depth of quality in a squad that sees Willian and Fabregas as bench warmers.
Oscar played a super outside of the boot, over the top ball for Costa, but Williams again came up with a key challenge to force a corner. Hazard missed out on a possible hat-trick when he too accepted a standing o while being replaced by Batshuayi. From the corner, Luiz saw a shot turned over the bar by Stekelenburg.
Chelsea rubbed even more salt into Everton wounds by bringing dinosaur John Terry on for Cahill with still seven minutes to play. In the dying moments, Costa gave Moses a shooting opportunity that Stekelenburg saved well.
Final Score - 5-0.
Ronald Koeman commented after the 1-1 draw at Man City that they were the best side he’s coached against – he might well wish to reconsider that statement as Chelsea were quite excellent and on this kind of form, will pose a serious, serious challenge for the Premiership title come May.
As for Everton, well we stay in fifth place in the table, but the team with the second best defensive record ahead of kick-off were totally embarrassed and there will be an awful lot of work to be done on the next two weeks before we face Swansea at Goodison.
