Cole Palmer (2nd R) controls the ball during the English Premier League football match between Everton and Chelsea at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on December 22, 2024
With 10 minutes to go Jarrad Branthwaite was sent sprawling to the floor as Cole Palmer tugged him down off the ball. There was no malice in the foul but it was a poignant one. Sean Dyche would have taken immense satisfaction from watching one of the world’s most gifted, and in-form, attackers reduced to an act of petty frustration.
It was a split-second that told the story of this 92 minute match. Chelsea, for all their strength, depth and talent became the latest side to be blunted by the stubbornness of Dyche’s Everton.
Three clean sheets in a row, two title challengers kept out in seven days. The football may not always be pretty and once again the Blues’ possession stats are not for the faint-hearted. But this was another step forward on the pitch - a good point to end an important week off it.
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Everton still had work to do after Palmer’s pull on Branthwaite. They did it well. The final stages were epitomised by the fight and discipline of Jesper Lindstrom.
Twice club captain Seamus Coleman pushed his colleague’s chest in a gesture of praise after he harried Jadon Sancho into running the ball out of play. The final act of this match was Lindstrom, an attacker who has come to Merseyside to rediscover his flair, stealing the ball from Sancho, a tackle roared from the Park End.
There was something fitting about Chelsea being the first game of this new era. Three seasons ago this was where the fightback began as Everton teetered on the brink of relegation for the first time. Back then, no-one knew of the torturous survival battles - on and off the pitch - that would follow the early summer of 2022.
Everton started their success in the first of those against this same opposition as thousands of supporters rallied to welcome the players as they arrived at Goodison Park, Richarlison celebrated his match-winning goal by launching a blue smoke bomb into the stands and Jordan Pickford pulled off the save of the Premier League era.
Last season Chelsea’s visit to Goodison Park was almost as significant, a lung-bursting win in front of a ferocious home crowd as the club railed against the largest points deduction handed out in English top flight history.
Academy graduate Lewis Dobbin’s emotional goal celebration was a highlight of last season and it came on a day in which Branthwaite burnished his England credentials in front of watching national boss Gareth Southgate.
This time it was Marc Watts who was looking on from the directors box, Everton’s new executive chairman and the figure who will take the lead for The Friedkin Group’s operation on Merseyside. He will no doubt have heard the renditions of ‘If you know your history’ that rippled through the home stands as this match drew to a close. All of a sudden there is not just hope in this great club, but belief that a better future is within sight.
Challenges lie ahead, particularly on the pitch. This remains a side that could be pulled into a relegation battle and one that has more issues than can be solved in the January transfer window due to constraints linked to the club’s proximity to Profit and Sustainability Regulations.
While it will take time to sort out Everton’s head, Watts and his colleagues will have seen there is nothing wrong with the club’s heart as they took in the atmosphere amid torrid conditions.
This game was far from a classic and Chelsea had more sustained pressure. A win for Everton did not look beyond reach across a few frantic moments in the second half, however. Enzo Maresca was pleased with the result at the end of this match and he had Tosin Adarabioyo to thank, the centre back producing an epic block to deny Iliman Ndiaye amid a scramble caused by Lindstrom and Beto.
The second half began with the best chance of the game when Ndiaye turned provider and picked out Jack Harrison at the back post only for him to shoot at the onrushing Robert Sanchez.
Those opportunities were the result of a burst of adventure from Everton after a tame first half in which ambitions were initially tempered by the weather. The opening half an hour took place under spells of sunshine and rain and amid gusting wind that had the corner flags bent horizontal.
Both sides struggled for control in the conditions but once they calmed it was Chelsea who seized the initiative. Adarabioyo and Levi Colwill were dominant as Dominic Calvert-Lewin laboured in isolation.
The defence pushed up and the away side probed with patience, creating three good chances as the first half wore on. The first was the result of the best move of the half, Pedro Neto sliding Palmer down the Everton left. Palmer moved the ball across goal and into the path of Nicolas Jackson, who was denied by the latest fine save in Pickford’s current rich vein of form.
Pickford was involved again moments later as he checked his run and stood firm when Jackson broke the offside trap. There was little anyone could do moments later when a corner was caught in a swirl of wind that outfoxed everyone, the ball bouncing to an unmarked Jackson at the back post with the goal gaping. He found woodwork instead of the back of the net though and a lunging Pickford closed down Malo Gusto’s effort from the rebound.
For all their promise in the first half, Chelsea were unable to unlock Everton in the second. There were times between the chances for Harrison and Ndiaye when it looked as though the visitors would seize control. But as highlighted by Palmer’s frustration, they were unable to break Everton’s resistance.
It was a stark contrast to the last time these sides faced each other, when Palmer danced through the Blues to inflict humiliation on Dyche’s side at Stamford Bridge.
That 6-0 loss was a low point of a tough season and one that had Everton fearing for their future as the club lurched between crises on and off the pitch. Eight months later, a new dawn has broken. Its beginning was marked with a battling point that shows the old fighting spirit still lives on.