Everton vs. Chelsea: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
A frantic and pulsating Premier League game between Everton and Chelsea finished 3-1 to the home side at Goodison Park on Saturday.
An early injury to Muhamed Besic saw Steven Naismith come on inside 10 minutes—and he soon scored twice, from a header and a driven low shot from range, to put the Blues in control. Nemanja Matic spanked in a scorcher from distance to reduce the gap before half-time, but Chelsea were nowhere near effective enough in the final third and failed to find an equaliser.
Late on, Naismith ran in behind John Terry to smash home his hat-trick.
Here are all our winners and losers from the match.
Winner: John Stones
1 of 5
In defence for his Everton side against the team who tried repeatedly to buy him over the summer, John Stones was superb throughout the game.
He was aggressive and quick to make challenges, using his strength and acceleration against Diego Costa more than once in the first half, but the most noticeable thing about his game was his terrific composure in possession.
Even inside his own box, he was happy to maintain the ball at his feet, work space for a pass and even dribble past players to create room for his team-mates. A tremendous performance all round.
Loser: Eden Hazard
2 of 5
In truth, we could have selected any of Chelsea's attacking players to be a loser. None of them created any chances of note, with everything played in front of Everton's defence, and for all the possession, there was very little penetration or attempts to shoot.
Eden Hazard, though, hasn't had a good start to the season and was totally anonymous at Goodison Park, not really threatening the back line with dribbles or with penetrative passes. Twice he was closed down inside the box when he could have shot earlier, but beyond that, he never looked like being Chelsea's answer to find a route to goal.
There are problems at both ends of the pitch for Chelsea at the moment, and they need players such as Hazard to step up quickly.
Winner: Roberto Martinez
3 of 5
A big victory for Roberto Martinez was not just the scoreline but the way his style of play and tactical game plan yielded better results at both ends of the pitch.
While Everton enjoyed spells in attack, they also had to bed in and defend for long periods. However, they passed their way out of defence, which led to good build-up play, sustained possession and a composure on the ball throughout the team.
Whether counter-attacking with pace or building up with clever movement in the final third, Martinez will be delighted with the way Everton played throughout the game and the fact they came away having defended and attacked much better than Chelsea.
Loser: Jose Mourinho
4 of 5
Early-season defeats can be overcome with time if consistency is found for the rest of the season, but Jose Mourinho has a lot of work to do to build another title challenge this term despite adding big-money signings to a title-winning team.
Defensively, there are far too many hesitant players, a lack of cohesion and, unusually for Chelsea, no consistency in selection at the moment. In attack, as previously mentioned, there is very little creativity and few genuine scoring chances are being created.
Three defeats from five will have questions aimed at Mourinho, and rightly so—he has to immediately turn things around now, having once more been backed by the club in the transfer market. There is a lot of expectation on the team to perform.
Winner: Steven Naismith
5 of 5
He might not have started the game, but Naismith's introduction was key for Everton early on. He certainly wasn't playing in a terribly familiar role—the left side of a diamond—but he worked very hard and made a critical difference in attack.
Twice he had already run in behind Branislav Ivanovic before he opened the scoring, showing good composure, skill and drive to get into the box and finish off a move he himself started. His second goal was more opportunistic, a strike from range, but it was a well-taken goal.
The second half demanded that Naismith work deeper and cover extremely well at left-back, but late on he made another brilliant run in behind the defence to wallop in a deserved hat-trick to seal the game.
