Chelsea’s ten-day implosion continued on Saturday evening as Everton beat them 3-0 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, completing a fourth consecutive defeat across all competitions for Liam Rosenior’s side. It was the worst possible time to face a buoyant, organised Everton team playing with purpose in front of a full house.
The sequence of results makes uncomfortable reading. Chelsea were eliminated from the Champions League by PSG on an 8-2 aggregate, lost at home to Newcastle, and have now been beaten soundly by a side that had taken just five home league wins all season.
Rosenior’s record sits at ten wins from 19 matches, several of which came in the FA Cup against lower-division clubs. With Manchester United drawing and Liverpool losing on the same day, Chelsea had the chance to go fourth in the table. They blew it in the most complete way possible.
James Garner, handed his first senior England call-up this week, was the catalyst for the opener. He threaded a perfectly weighted pass through Chelsea’s defence and Beto, making a sharp run in behind, dinked the ball over the rushing Robert Sanchez with the outside of his boot.
Sanchez had already been caught dallying on the ball by Beto in the opening minutes, with Moises Caicedo having to rescue the situation. The goalkeeper’s confidence looked shot throughout, and it became decisive before the hour.
Gueye intercepted the ball high up the pitch, fed Beto down the right channel, and the striker’s shot squirmed between Sanchez’s legs and over the line. Beto became the first Everton player to score more than once in a Premier League game at the new ground.
Jordan Pickford, at the other end, was earning his 100th clean sheet for the club. He made sharp saves from Enzo Fernandez twice, at a point when Chelsea could have levelled and changed the game’s complexion.
Iliman Ndiaye finished the evening with a curling strike into the top corner that Sanchez barely moved to stop. For a stadium still in its early days, these are exactly the kinds of nights that give a place its identity.
Everton are now seventh, two points behind Chelsea in sixth, three behind Liverpool in fifth. A home Merseyside derby next month suddenly looks like a genuinely important game. As Garner told Sky Sports after the match, “I am so happy, I am over the moon,” in what he described as a perfect evening on a personal and collective level.
