More Misery For Chelsea After Two Nill Defeat To Everton
Everton piled more misery on Chelsea with a 2 – 0 win over the London club on Sunday.
The Toffees continued to shrug off the impact of a 10-point Premier League deduction as the win took them four points clear of the relegation zone.
Abdoulaye Doucoure opened the scoring before Lewis Dobbin’s first Everton goal imposed another damaging defeat on Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino.
Without the penalty for breaching financial rules, Sean Dyche’s men would be four points above Chelsea in mid-table.
After a dreadful display in losing 2-1 at Manchester United in midweek, Pochettino shuffled his pack for the match.
But the Argentine is struggling to solve his side’s lack of a clinical edge up front, despite the club having spent £1 billion ($1.3 billion) on new players in the past three transfer windows.
Chelsea were able to welcome back Conor Gallagher from suspension, while captain Reece James, Benoit Badiashile and Armando Broja came in as Pochettino made four changes.
But James’ injury-hit campaign goes on as he was forced off midway through the first half.
Chelsea dominated the first half but were undone by a familiar lack of punch up front.
It was not until after half-time that the hosts had a shot on target as Dwight McNeil’s sweet strike from the edge of the box was turned behind by Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea did not heed that warning as they were cut wide open with Everton’s next attack.
McNeil’s pass in behind was perfectly weighted for Dominic Calvert-Lewin and when his effort was saved by Sanchez, Doucoure was on hand to fire in the rebound.
Pochettino turned to Jackson and Raheem Sterling off the bench to rescue a result.
However, Everton comfortably held on before adding to their lead in stoppage time.
Chelsea substitute goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic flapped at a corner and Dobbin smashed home to spark wild scenes of celebrations.
