Abdoulaye Doucoure tucked in again before Lewis Dobbin grabbed his first-ever goal for Everton as Sean Dyche's side pulled further away from the relegation zone with a 2-0 win over a blunt Chelsea side at Goodison Park.
Match Report
Doucoure is relishing his attacking role under Dyche and followed up his finish in Thursday's win over Newcastle with another close-range conversion on Sunday, after Dominic Calvert-Lewin's shot was parried by Robert Sanchez. That's six for the season now for the Malian, his best total in Everton colours.
But an even bigger celebration was had in injury-time when 20-year-old academy graduate Dobbin sealed the win by drilling in a loose ball from a corner.
Chelsea had piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser but the excellent Vitaliy Mykolenko smiled with relish as Everton repeatedly saw off the attacks and Goodison roared at the final whistle which sealed a third straight win in the Premier League.
Everton stay 17th but they're now four points clear of the relegation zone - the same gap they'd have on a listless Chelsea had they not suffered their points deduction.
Last weekend a combative win with 10 players over Brighton had seemed to signal a turning point for Mauricio Pochettino's men but they were badly out of sorts in the final third here and, on the back of their midweek defeat at Manchester United, they have slumped into the bottom half. Pochettino's search for a solution to this expensively-assembled squad's inconsistent form goes on.
The visitors' afternoon was made worse by a first-half injury to captain Reece James, who looks set to miss more game time with a hamstring problem, and a second-half injury to goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. But the lack of end product from the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk at the other end of the pitch remains just as big an issue.
What's next?
Everton head to relegation rivals Burnley on December 16. Kick-off 5.30pm.
Chelsea host Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday December 16. Kick-off 3pm. They're at home again in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday December 19 against Newcastle.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
3' CHANCE! Enzo's shot denied by Pickford
20' Yellow Card! Cole Palmer booked
37' CHANCE! Broja's shot wide out
50' CLOSE! McNeil's long shot denied by Sanchez
54' GOAL! Everton 1-0 Chelsea (Doucoure)
78' Sterling goes down in the box but ref says no penalty!
92' GOAL! Everton 2-0 Chelsea (Lewis Dobbin)
Line-ups
Everton XI: Young, Gueye, Pickford, Doucoure, Tarkowski, Calvert-Lewin, Jack Harrison, Vitaliy Mykolenko, McNeil, Garner, Jarrad Branthwaite
Subs: Godfrey, Arnaut Danjuma, João Virgínia, Beto, Amadou Onana, MacKenzie Hunt, Nathan Patterson, Lewis Dobbin, Chermiti
Chelsea XI: Marc Cucurella, Axel Disasi, Reece James, Robert Sánchez, Conor Gallagher, Benoît Badiashile, Cole Palmer, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Armando Broja, Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo
Subs: Thiago Silva, Sterling, Djordje Petrovic, Maatsen, Levi Colwill, Nicolas Jackson, Leo Castledine, Alfie Gilchrist, Alex Matos
STORMDC
1117
Even if Chelsea sign Microsoft as manager,they won't excel pass 10th position[Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
Lahanlyon07
930
Chelsea to Manchester united
chukwudera353
644
Sean Dyche since that 10 points deduction💯💯
stmessi
582
Boehly to pochettino : i thought u were building a project
Justilo
508
Chelsea can never prove man United Fans wrong, how are we sure that both are not dating
ishti
491
Teams lining up to play Chelsea
ololade_thing1010
425
Nobody : Enzo and Caicedo today
Alexandrascoba
406
make I no talk😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Mekingel20
362
WELCOME TO THE 12th position again this year.
kayapeople
292
Chelsea have finally collapsed. Lazy player's .only waiting to play against Liverpool and Man city for draw game at home
Amgnonijunior
267
I wish is possible for Chelsea to start reducing the players salary, I mean they should be paid according to their performance on the pitch. maybe that will make them more serious on the pitch.... I believe then all players will be serious and fight hard to do all their best on the pitch... the players knows very well that even if they don't perform well they'll still get paid.... I want them to be getting paid according to their performance 😩... they're using money to spoil all this players Fr.. if Chelsea see big team their spirit is always different compared to when they play against middle team....things need to be done asap
Costar
249
The GIF is already here, my pleasure: http://www.goalgif.xyz/v2/live/matchGifs?match_id=53615054&language=en
ChelseaFC_Addict
131
LUIS ENRIQUE would have been a better choice but Todd boehly went for The former Tottenham spurs coach ,so this is our life now we have to live it I guess. Chelsea FC is so easy to beat and that's up to the manager nobody can tell me otherwise. It's so easy to play against Chelsea fc. Chelsea FC lack energy, urgency, rhythm, players are being played out of positions 🙄 ,Nkunku has been back since International break but Potchettino keeps isolating him from the squad in the name of "fitness" . we can talk about Caicedo being slow but remember he was fast at Brighton under De Zerbi so this is down to the manager like I said. Chelsea FC must just bear the pain of being under Potchettino process and hope things change for better but that's the problem a club of Chelsea FC calibre cannot "hope" ! Roberto De Zerbi must come replace Potchettino in January if Chelsea FC sack him otherwise they must just wait till the end of the season to hire De Zerbi he's a good manager
Tony-2
110
Chelsea are not only consis10th but they're also a cheerful giver. they're so consis10th in sharing 3 points 😅😅