Chelsea were held to a tepid 0-0 draw by Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon.
This was a contest which underscored the reality that beauty is not the goal of competitive sport. Sean Dyche's hosts battled, bumped and bruised their visitors, fighting their way to a second goalless stalemate after last weekend's draw with Arsenal.
Enzo Maresca's side squandered the few chances they had, passing up the opportunity to move above Liverpool - however briefly - at the Premier League summit.
How the game unfolded
Everton, as is their signature style regardless of setting or opponent under Dyche, ceded the initiative. The compact mass of blue shirts managed to stymy the visitors for 25 minutes. However, one crunching tackle from Moises Caicedo broke Everton's rearguard, setting off a chain reaction of numerical superiority which ended with Cole Palmer squaring for Nicolas Jackson.
Chelsea's in-form forward dragged a close-range effort straight into the midriff of Jordan Pickford. Malo Gusto was wayward with his header on the rebound.
Jackson was presented with another glaring opportunity shortly after the half-hour mark. Stooping to meet a corner which had swung all the way round the back of Everton's box, the Senegal international somehow conspired to head his effort against the post from three yards out.
Iliman Ndiaye carried Everton's greatest threat, invariably by carrying the ball. The wriggling forward jinked away from Axel Disasi before picking out Jack Harrison at the back post. Afforded the freedom of Goodison, Harrison had his close-range effort smothered by an outrushing Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea left their minds in the cramped dressing rooms during the interval. Levi Colwill lost a wrestling match with Beto in the centre circle, watching on from the turf as Everton mounted another forward surge. A combination of Tosin Adarabioyo and Sanchez just about managed to clear Jesper Lindstrom's low cross as Ndiaye came hurtling into the box, desperately preserving Chelsea's clean sheet.
In the end, neither backline would be breached.
Check out the player ratings from Everton vs Chelsea here.
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It was not a day for the faint-hearted at Goodison Park / PAUL ELLIS/GettyImages
"It's a windy day, it's quite cold," Enzo Maresca astutely pointed out pre-game. "It's nice, it's England."
The swirling wind refused to let any ball remain still for a set piece. Pickford collected an errant cone that had been blown onto the pitch in the first half, while players were forced to dodge pieces of litter strewn across the turf throughout the second 45 minutes.
Some spectators argued that the conditions were worse than those which forced the postponement of this month's Merseyside derby.
The adverse weather conditions impeded both sides. While Chelsea struggled to get to grips with the cauldron of precipitation, Everton's volley of forward punts were at the mercy of the gale battering Goodison Park.
As Dyche pointed out post-game: "We've come through a storm."
Jack Harrison, Robert Sanchez
Robert Sanchez has enjoyed a decent bout of form for the Blues / Carl Recine/GettyImages
Chelsea went into the weekend as the Premier League's most prolific outfit. However, for the first time since the opening game of the campaign, the Blues were held to a blank by their opponents. Everton limited the west London outfit to just 0.77xG - Chelsea's lowest tally of the entire season.
On the rare occasion when the visitors did manage to fight their way through the hosts, Jordan Pickford stood tall. Boasting a personality to match the wild elements on display - this is a player with "Get the Rave On" stitched on his boots after all - Everton's enigmatic number one thrived amid the mayhem, just about reining in his puppy-like exuberance to remain on the right side of the law.
Much like Pickford, Robert Sanchez has come under criticism throughout his career. The divisive Spain international is often upheld as a reason why Chelsea's title challenge is deeply flawed, but the goalkeeper almost singlehandedly ensured that the Blues emerged from Sunday's contest with a share of the spoils.
New Executive Chairman Marc Watts taking in a Goodison matchday for the first time, alongside interim CEO Colin Chong. 👋 pic.twitter.com/i02mEwy1iE
— Everton (@Everton) December 22, 2024
Three days on from the belated confirmation that the Friedkin Group had completed their takeover of Everton, new executive chairman Marc Watts was watching on from the stands.
Dyche hoped that the fresh ownership would bring "a positive mood to the team", but it will take more than a chirpy press release and replica scarf to shift the sense of perpetual malaise which hangs over Everton these days.
The Toffees are a team of spoons in a world of pork chops; distinctly lacking any cutting edge. While they offered more of a threat after the break, it was hardly an injustice for the game to finish goalless. As Watts and his bosses will soon discover, this is nothing new for the Toffees. Four of Everton's last six matches have ended 0-0.
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