Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas reflects on how, when the Blues play Chelsea, trouble never seems to be far away for managers of the London club
Liam Rosenior during the Premier League match between Everton and Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Liam Rosenior during the Premier League match between Everton and Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
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Since Richarlison held aloft a smoking blue flare in front of the Gwladys Street, the fortunes of Everton and Chelsea have been peculiarly entwined.
The outpouring of relief came against Crystal Palace weeks later, but it would not have been possible without the 1-0 victory over the reigning Champions League winners back in May 2022.
That was the day of the first of the Goodison Park coach welcomes that became synonymous with the battles to stave off relegation and which have now been picked up in happier times at Hill Dickinson Stadium. It was an afternoon that began with Everton five points from safety and ended, via Myra the dog, Richarlison’s goal and one of Jordan Pickford’s greatest saves, with the win that kickstarted the survival run.
By then, Chelsea had already come under the ownership of BlueCo, but the US group had inherited manager Thomas Tuchel. Of the four they have hired since - all of whom have now left following the departure of Liam Rosenior on Wednesday - a game against Everton has often been a catalyst for chaos.
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The first appointment of the BlueCo regime was Graham Potter, who came under fire when, in March 2023, his Chelsea side conceded a last-minute equaliser to Everton at Stamford Bridge. The hosts had looked set to take all three points from a tight game when Ellis Simms muscled Kalidou Koulibaly out of the way and scored his first and only senior Everton goal.
Potter’s tactics - he removed the influential Joao Felix in a bid to see out the win - were a focus of the post-match commentary and this was another missed opportunity for a manager who struggled to build momentum with Chelsea. Simms’ goal ended a three-game winning streak that injected some hope into Potter’s reign, but the former Brighton manager would survive just one more match after Everton left with a point. When Aston Villa left London with a win in Chelsea’s following game, that was it.
His replacement, Mauricio Pochettino, was at the centre of a bizarre flare-up - not the last - when Everton visited Chelsea almost 12 months later. This was a much happier affair for home fans as the hosts ripped through Sean Dyche’s Blues to record a 6-0 thrashing that pushed Everton further towards trouble in the season in which they suffered two points deductions.
The expectation may have been that the post-match fare would have been entirely predictable and, from Everton’s perspective, it was, as the inquest began on a troubling Monday night. Pochettino’s post-match press conference turned into a heated mess despite the massive win, however, as reporters quizzed him on the row between Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson over who would take the penalty that would turn four goals into five in a game that was already over. Annoyed by repeated questions over the incident that took the shine off a massive win, Pochettino ended up arguing with a journalist on his way out of the media centre.
If that was bizarre then what followed earlier this season, with his successor Enzo Maresca, was even more surreal. Chelsea secured what became a routine 2-0 win over Everton at Stamford Bridge in December - a galling afternoon for David Moyes’ side in which they failed to take advantage of good spells and lost Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to injury.
The post-match press conference should have been straightforward, but it again descended into chaos. This was the evening Maresca, seemingly out of the blue, launched a cryptic assault at those above him at Chelsea.
Without prompting, while responding to a question about the influence of Malo Gusto, Maresca said: "The last 48 hours have been the worst 48 hours since I joined the club because many people didn't support us.” He then refused to clarify what he meant but the comments were the opening salvo in a collision with the club ownership that ended in his departure just a few weeks later.
His replacement, Rosenior, was sacked yesterday after the latest defeat in a five game Premier League losing streak in which the most emphatic loss came at the hands of Everton at Hill Dickinson last month, when Beto and Iliman Ndiaye led the Blues to a 3-0 thrashing of the team they now sit just one point below, after pulling them into a battle just to reach Europe when, weeks ago, Chelsea’s qualification looked relatively assured. His position already looked at risk then, particularly when he later claimed his side had gained control of the match before they imploded.