Everton 3-0 Chelsea 

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The preamble of Everton’s clash with Chelsea was dominated by the discussion surrounding the Blues’ punishment from the Premier League, or perhaps more accurately, the perceived leniency of it. David Moyes openly called for an explanation as to why their opponents on Saturday avoided a points deduction, instead paying a £10.75 million fine (€12.37 million). But Everton served a form of their own justice with a deserved 3-0 victory at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, humiliating Liam Rosenior’s team and exposing their lack of effort and defensive disorganisation.

This was Chelsea’s ninth consecutive league game without a clean sheet – going back to their 2-0 win over Brentford in January. But alarmingly, it was also the third consecutive game where they have conceded three goals or more. On this evidence, there won’t be many who would back them to complete another shut-out before the end of the season. The biggest concern for Rosenior is that, much like the infamous Moyes quote from 2013 when he said Manchester United “must improve in a number of areas, including passing, creating chances and defending”, Chelsea have problems in all areas of the pitch.

Moyes’ record against Big Six clubs is far from positive, but the Scot made amends. His tactics from the first whistle were spot on as he concentrated on pressing where Chelsea were most vulnerable. James Garner was astounding in the engine room. Beto took the scraps he was given and with surging runs into the channel, the striker turned them into a steak dinner with a well-earned double. Even the former Chelsea man Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, sold by the club after just one season, looked a snip at €28.65 million.

At the back, James Tarkowski and Michael Keane made life difficult for Joao Pedro, so much so that he felt compelled to drop deeper to claim the ball. Jordan Pickford made two important saves to stop Chelsea fighting their way back into the match. It was certainly not obvious that Chelsea’s squad – with a total market value of €1.16 billion – was nearly three times as valuable as Everton’s (€454m).

But as is often the case with Chelsea these days, they were their own worst enemy. The signs had appeared early on when Robert Sanchez, under no real pressure from Beto, stumbled on the ball is own box and then missed the ball with a wild swing. The Portuguese striker would’ve had a tap-in had Moises Caicedo not mopped up the danger. Then Wesley Fofana was nearly caught out a few minutes later. Those warning signs were not heeded, and the lack of confidence was glaringly obvious.

Everton saw their opportunity to seize upon it and got their reward. Almost a carbon copy of the goal that Newcastle scored a week ago, Everton took the lead when Garner – under no pressure from Romeo Lavia and Caicedo – executed an inch-perfect pass to Beto, who timed his run to ghost in behind Fofana. With Sanchez coming off his line, he dinked the ball over the goalkeeper with remarkable simplicity. Aside from a wonderful save from Pickford, Chelsea struggled to muster a response.

Rosenior sent on Alejandro Garnacho at the break, but it didn’t provide the spark needed. Cole Palmer cut a frustrated figure, waving his arms at Pedro Neto for taking the ball he felt was meant for him. Enzo Fernandez battled hard but often found himself outnumbered Garner and Idrissa Gueye, hassling him like a pair of security guards.

The second half brought shouts of ‘ole!’ from the home supporters, and they were dancing in jubilation when Beto fired the ball at Sanchez, who let it squirm underneath him and over the line. But there was nothing lucky about the third when Iliman Ndiaye curled into the top corner, an exhibit of their class and effort to put the game beyond doubt.

Chelsea were relieved to hear the final whistle in the end after a dreadful performance to cap an equally turbulent week. If there is a positive to take, it’s that Liverpool lost to Brighton and Manchester United drew away at Bournemouth. They also didn’t get a man sent off and Caicedo avoided a booking that would guarantee him a two-game suspension. But that’s it. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The international break will provide some much-needed respite for the west London outfit after one of their worst weeks in recent memory.

But with Brentford, Everton, Fulham and Brighton all closing in behind them, the danger of missing out on the Champions League and Europe altogether is a possibility. If Rosenior can’t find a way to resolve their issues soon, it could prove to be a disastrous finale to this season for the Blues – and another case of Chelsea looking for a new manager. As for Everton, they truly believe this team is in the ascendancy for the first time in several years, and Europe is no longer a pipedream but an obtainable objective.