The Chris Beesley analysis of Everton's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge
LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 13: Head Coach David Moyes of Everton during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge on December 13, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)
David Moyes during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge on December 13, 2025
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David Moyes told reporters that he thought his side played well in Saturday's 2-0 loss at Chelsea. But that date in the increasingly dim and distant past when the Blues last picked up three points at Stamford Bridge of November 26, 1994, will continue to be trotted out after they failed to end their winless run here.
It was a very different world back when Paul Rideout’s header gave the Blues victory in the capital in Joe Royle’s first away game – just like he’d do in the FA Cup final against Manchester United the following May – as just 1% of the UK population had access to the internet.
Everton have tasted victory of sorts once since then, Moyes also at the helm as he earned a modicum of revenge for the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in the 2009 FA Cup final by knocking them out of the competition at the fourth-round stage in a replay on February 19, 2011.
READ MORE: What the Everton away end did at full-time told its own story – and so did David Moyes' reaction
On that day it was Leighton Baines who saved the visitors’ bacon with a spectacular equaliser a minute before the end of extra-time to cancel out Frank Lampard’s 103rd minute opener. Although Baines would then see his side’s opening kick in the resultant penalties saved by Petr Cech, the Blues would still triumph on spot-kicks with Ashley Cole, one of the very few left-backs of the Premier League era better than the Kirkby man missing the decisive effort.
That day, Everton were wearing their distinctive cream and navy blue change colours and their current away kit is their closest match since, but while they might have looked the part, that’s where the similarities ended, certainly in that area of the pitch.While Vitalii Mykolenko has proven himself to be a competent Premier League left-back in the almost four years that he’s been on Merseyside since Rafael Benitez plucked him from Dynamo Kyiv for £17million after falling out with Lucas Digne, he’s not in the same class as Baines, who celebrated his 41st birthday a couple of days before this game and was sat alongside Moyes here as first team coach.
The Ukraine international was twice found wanting for both of Chelsea’s goals and while it could be a prudent move for Everton to hand him a contract extension before his current deal expires next summer to protect the value of their asset, in truth his position should be one in which they are looking to upgrade under new owners The Friedkin Group.
Centre stageMoyes insisted it was a tougher decision to take off James Garner – who he maintained was as good as anyone on the park here – than it was to start with Idrissa Gueye, but remarked that he was protecting his player who is one yellow card away from a potential suspension.
Gueye, of course, has already served his three-match ban for the shocking moment when he was sent off at Old Trafford for slapping team-mate Michael Keane and leaving his side to cling on for a stamina-sapping and mentally draining 77 minutes to become the first 10-man team to triumph away to Manchester United in a Premier League fixture.
Other than the subsequent 4-1 thumping to Newcastle United as their exertions down the East Lancs Road arguably caught up with them, Everton have been in fine form, disposing of Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest, suggesting that an instant recall for the 37-year-old might not have been a no-brainer. However, with Moyes now losing Gueye again for a month as he heads to the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal, perhaps the Glaswegian gaffer was eager to eke out as much as he could from him while he could.In truth, the Blues have excelled with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall pulling the strings from deeper and providing the team with a genuine box-to-box presence in the engine room, but here it was back to a ‘safety first’ approach.
Gueye was supposed to be providing extra solidity with a layer of protection in front of his back four, but instead he appeared off the pace and lost his runner for both of Chelsea’s goals.
Fears for creative duoDewsbury-Hall combines clever play on the pitch with an intelligent and articulate demeanour off it, and having emerged from his single season with Chelsea having lifted the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup, he’s seemed bemused at times by the various bogey grounds that keep cropping up for Everton in certain fixtures.
This of course is the ‘Daddy’ of all of them with the wait for three points going back further than the club’s silverware drought and indeed the 27-year-old midfielder’s own lifetime.
Dewsbury-Hall was bullish going into this game and facing his previous employers for the first time. Looking forwards to his Stamford Bridge return he proclaimed he was “so excited” and added: “I’m probably feeling the best I’ve ever felt and the way I’m playing is up there with the best I’ve played.
“I’ll be honest, I’m confident going against anyone in the Premier League at the moment and it’s a nice place to be.”
What a shame then that the Blues’ man of the moment was forced out of the contest after just 15 minutes, clutching the back of his right leg.
Given that Moyes then claimed that Jack Grealish was also potentially hamstrung, Everton could now face some nervous days when it comes to the fitness of their biggest creative threats at the same time that Iliman Ndiaye is heading off on international duty.