Graham Potter was left rueing a missed opportunity as Chelsea and their European ambitions were dealt another blow. Chelsea will have been confident of a fourth consecutive victory in all competitions coming into their game against Everton, despite being in good form and fighting for survival. Throw in the fact that Chelsea hadn’t lost at home to Everton in the Premier League since 1994, and Chelsea fans may have begun to rejoice. The Blues battled in the first half, displaying flashes of brilliance but not the desire or finishing quality to break past Everton’s defense. Both Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix added wonderful touches, but something was missing.
Chelsea made the breakthrough less than ten minutes into the second half. That was the result of fantastic play and good fortune, as Ben Chilwell attempted to cross after Fernandez’s excellent pass was blocked, but the ball fell to Felix on the edge of the box. The Portuguese forward worked hard to set up a shooting opportunity, and his shot was well-placed, escaping Jordan Pickford and going in off the post. Chelsea fought again after taking the lead, this time electing to sit back. Great teams, especially great Chelsea teams, have been able to sustain leads with good defense in the past, but this current Blues club does not look to be capable.
Potter’s substitutions have an influence as well. Everton equalized seven minutes after Conor Gallagher replaced Christian Pulisic in an attempt to regain control while also providing the American with some relief in his delayed return from injury. Chelsea took the lead once more thanks to Kai Havertz’s calm penalty, but they quickly ceded control and welcomed pressure. Ruben Loftus-Cheek took over in midfield for Mateo Kovacic, but the real problems began with five minutes remaining. Carney Chukwuemeka and Trevoh Chalobah came in for Felix and Wesley Fofana, who had been outstanding defensively.
Although Ellis Simms equalized with minutes remaining, Chelsea lacked the attacking talent to score again, despite packing the midfield and adding fresh legs to the defense. Simms’ goal was the sixth Chelsea goal conceded in the final 15 minutes of a game under Potter, who was irritated by his team’s easy goals.
“I think our overall performance was excellent; we did a lot of things well. We scored a few goals but ultimately failed to defend effectively enough in a handful of actions, costing us points, and we are disappointed,” Chelsea head coach Graham Potter said. “As we spoke before the game, I believe we should have attacked better as a team in the first place. We learned how to attack successfully so that we wouldn’t be exposed to transition. It appeared too simple throughout the team, which was unfortunate for both the second and first goals. Everton deserves credit for their performance, but we needed to improve.”
“We’re quite disappointed since we lost two points at home. We wanted to win, and you could see the team’s motivation. There were many encouraging aspects to the effort, but ultimately, we did not defend well enough, and conceding two goals makes it difficult to win the game. That is the most disheartening aspect for us,” he added. “Everton deserves credit for doing what they do well. They use their physicality, the set pieces, and they question you. We controlled the game fairly well for the majority of it, as much as you can at his level. But, the first goal is quite frustrating because it comes from a set piece; we discussed this prior to the game. For the second goal, we did not attack well enough and subsequently exposed a large area to defend, which we did not do well enough. These are the little details. When you consider how much effort we put into the game and how hard we attempted to attack, the goals we conceded were disappointing.”
“I suppose that is for the next season. Try to generate momentum, assemble the squad, discover and integrate your eight or nine guys from today, but your surge is for next season, not this season,” former Chelsea Women’s player Karen Carney said. “Build momentum and seek to compete in the Champions League. I had the impression that he was trying to figure out who will be his key players next season the entire time.”
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