Everton 0-1 Chelsea
Chelsea got their 2022/23 campaign off to a winning start with a well earned victory over Everton at Goodison Park.
Jorginho gave the Blues a lead from the penalty spot deep into first half stoppage time and while both team had chances to add to the score line that goal was enough to take all three points.
The Saturday teatime fixture gave the rest of the Premier League clubs a chance to weigh up these two teams and the match went pretty much as expected, with Chelsea showing composure while the Toffees struggled to create too many chances.
It could be another long season for Frank Lampard’s Everton.
Highlights of the game
In the first real action of the game Everton centre back Ben Godfrey put in a superb tackle to deny Kai Havertz; but it cost Godfrey dearly and he was stretchered off after receiving treatment for six minutes. It didn’t look good for the young defender.
Chelsea’s move to sign Raheem Sterling from Manchester City looks like a smart one as he and fellow new boy Kalidou Koulibaly were the standout players in the first half, the former Napoli centre back settling easily in to life in the Premier League. And Sterling thought he’d got his first goal for the Blues when he turned in a rebound when Jordan Pickford spilled a shot from N’Golo Kante but the flag went up and Sterling was inches offside.
The England forward will make his fair share of Premier League 2022 highlights this season while Koulibaly could be one of the buys of the summer.
In Everton’s best chance of the first half one of their new boys came close to scoring when ex Burnley centre back James Tarkowski powered a header goalwards which Edouard Mendy did well to tip over the bar.
The visitors had a lot of possession but they had to be patient and eventually it paid off when Ben Chilwell made a run into the penalty area; Abdoulaye Doucoure put in a clumsy challenge to give referee Craig Pawson an easy decision to point to the spot.
Jorginho was cool personified as he sent Pickford the wrong way and slotted the ball low into the bottom left corner.
The Toffees came out fighting in the second half and Demarai Gray came close to a leveller when he was clean through on goal, but his angled drive wizzed just wide of the far post. Then Mendy had to react smartly to beat away a shot from Doucoure.
Another former Burnley man, Dwight McNeil, also made his Everton debut but he struggled to get into the game and was replaced by Dele Alli with half an hour remaining. But that change didn’t spark anything and Everton started to toil.
Thomas Tuchel has been busy in the market with the signing of Marc Cucurella from Brighton in a deal worth more than £60m, and he came on for his debut when Koulibaly limped off with cramp. And Cucurella almost created a second goal for Chelsea when he drilled a low ball in the danger area which Sterling met sweetly, but Vitaly Mykolenko made a brilliant goal-line clearance.
Key statistics
My SBOTOP colleague fancied a draw in this game and in the first half, while Chelsea bossed possession and the shot count (by 10 to three and five to one on target) Everton looked reasonably comfortable in defence until the penalty deep into injury time.
Chelsea had a staggering 13 corners in the first half and none of them came to anything. The vast majority were fired in at the near post and two went too long for anyone to get on the end of.
After Everton started the second half brightly Tuchel’s men took control and saw the game out comfortably, finishing with 63 per cent possession and 14 shots to seven, five to three on target.
What’s next?
The Premier League 2022 betting odds predict these two teams will finish the campaign at opposite ends of the table and this result pretty much confirms that forecast.
After a satisfactory start the Blues have a huge match next week when former boss Antonio Conte brings his Tottenham Hotspur to Stamford Bridge. Spurs opener, at home to Southampton, turned out to be a great start for Conte’s men who ran out 4-1 winners.
With three weeks of the transfer window to work with, Frank Lampard is still hoping to strengthen his squad and Everton have just bought Lille midfielder Amadou Onana to Merseyside. The club is also hoping to bring Idrissa Gueye back from Paris to Goodison as well as luring Wolves centre back Conor Coady.
Next up for Everton it’s Aston Villa away, before new boys Nottingham Forest are the visitors to Merseyside on 20th August.
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