Everton lost out on a chance to enter the top four after slumping to a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in a game that proved to be comfortable for the home team.

Early signs that Chelsea, being the home team, were quite happy to dominate possession tallying up many passes in an attempt to keep the visitors chasing the ball.

Fifteen minutes in, the Blues only had 19% possession and Everton barely registered a kick despite Chelsea not proving to be too threatening when it came to producing clear cut chances.

The frustration among fans would be the fact that Everton looked far too passive and looked like they would rather not risk attacking with the danger of being countered. A player like Allan would need to be more aggressive in the tackle if the Toffees were to pose a threat to Tuchel’s side.

Past the twenty minute mark and Everton started to get on the ball more, showing a bit more confidence with the likes of Sigurdsson finding pockets of space in the midfield.

The breakthrough came for Chelsea when far too much space was afforded down the left hand ride where Callum Hudson-Odoi found Marcos Alonso who fired across the area only for Ben Godfrey to turn the ball into his own net. The goal will be hard to swallow for Ancelotti as the defence, which had been solid up until that point, parted far too easily with Mason Holgate the main culprit for not tracking his man.

Chelsea thought they had doubled their lead when Marcos Alonso found himself one on one with Jordan Pickford behind the back line, only for the England keeper to produce a fingertip save to keep the score at 1-0.

The first 45 was nothing short of pitiful for the Toffees, struggling to string three passes together, failing to press the opposition and generally looking miles off the pace compared to the London outfit.

The second half was much of the same story, Chelsea being afforded too much space in the centre of the park which is ideal for players like Jorginho and Havertz who tend to be very comfortable when they aren’t receiving pressure.

The first real opportunity for Everton fell to Richarlison who found himself free in the area only for the Brazilian, who has been prolific recently, to slice his shot wide of the post.

Calvert-Lewin was a player who looked annoyed in his role as a split striker as he was stretched wide and was on the periphery of the game for its entirety.

The game looked out of Everton reach as Pickford clumsily took out Havertz which resulted in a penalty. Jorginho proceeded to step up and slot it into the bottom left corner to double their advantage.

Although Everton began pressing a bit more after the introduction of three substitutions, the second goal seemed to take any sting and bite out of the Toffees performance who were limited to damage control at the end of the game.

It has been a common occurrence over recent years that Everton fail to capitalize on a chance to progress in the league standings and today was no different with Chelsea looking like the most likely team to win from the first minute.

There are players in this team that make the avid fan wonder how the Toffees have managed to get themselves in a European race with and that is simply down to overachieving. The individuals in question are Mason Holgate, Andre Gomes and Alex Iwobi, just to name a few who all lack the quality to realistically lack the quality to push Everton on to the next step.

Holgate, who clearly isn’t a natural right back to be fair, has looked uncomfortable for several weeks now, often getting beat by tricky wingers whilst exuding an air of deluded arrogance in the way he plays. Gomes hasn’t been the same player since his horrific injury and that is unfortunate but the Portuguese midfielder plays within his own bubble, with no real urgency and gets muscled off the ball most of the time. Finally, Iwobi simply is not anywhere near the £40 million price tag we paid for the former Arsenal man, frequently contributing nothing but limp balls into the box and an absence of pace which is essential for a winger.

If there were any positives to take out of the game today, they were the performances of Allan and Pickford. The former had a hard task on his hands today with the absence of the energetic Doucoure, who may be out for the season, meaning he had to cover a large area of the pitch where he made several key tackles and interceptions.

The latter continued his steady form between the sticks and, despite giving away an erratic penalty, he made countless saves to keep the scoreline to a respectable amount.

Overall, the Blues came up against a very strong team who are on a great run with Champions League aspirations, and have a lot of key injuries. That is just the 3rd away loss of the season and the Blues will maintain their spot in 5th as it stands.

Player Ratings:
Jordan Pickford – 8
Lucas Digne – 6
Michael Keane – 6
Ben Godfrey – 5
Mason Holgate – 4
Andre Gomes – 3
Allan – 7
Gylfi Sigurdsson – 5
Alex Iwobi – 4
Richarlison – 6
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 5

Subs:

Tom Davies – 5
Joshua King – 5
Bernard – N/A