Morgan Rogers playing for Chelsea
Morgan Rogers playing for Chelsea
The Toffees didn't have their greatest day as they welcomed Xabi Alonso and Co. to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Pedro Neto went on to bag a brace as his two strikes made all the difference on Merseyside in a 2-0 loss.
That brought the curtain down on what had been an affair with plenty of needle.
Things could have been different if referee Paul Tierney had seen certain challenges differently.
Rogers was involved with one controversial moment in the first-half as he went into a challenge with James Garner.
Match of the Day unanimous on Morgan Rogers vs James Garner moment
There were a number of flash points in the opening 45 in L3 on Saturday.
Harrison Armstrong had been booked for a seemingly perfect challenge, something which certainly got the home side up.
That only continued when Rogers and Garner steamed into a 50:50.
With the Chelsea man already on a yellow, many called for him to receive his marching orders.
Match of the Day has now had it's say with both pundits being in total agreement.
Joe Hart was quick to suggest that different perspectives provide a different result, as he said: "I did see it as a 50:50. I do understand why you can look at it from two different angles. Rogers is on a yellow at this point.
"It happens that they both hit the ball at the same time and ends with them walloping each other. Rogers, from this angle, bounces off and hits Garner on the left leg. Garner, on the other hand, bounces from the ball onto Rogers' left leg. It's a difficult one to call, but I like that he called it a 50:50."
That was echoed by Danny Murphy who added: "I think that's two honest lads going in for a really fair tackle. Neither are trying to stitch each other up by rolling around and we didn't hear any screams.
"We're always quick to jump on the officials when they make mistakes, I though the refereeing of the game today was really good."
That may not be enough to convince some of the Toffees faithful as we assess how the game could have changed from there.
Would Everton have beaten Chelsea with Rogers sent off?
The 24-year-old certainly had an effect on the game as his link-up with Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro caused all number of problems.
What can be said is the result may have been largely similar, even without the England international.
Had Rogers have been sent off, Neto would have still grabbed his second goal as his quick thinking from a poor free-kick caught out Jordan Pickford.
The first goal is a different story, but if truth be told, Everton never looked like scoring on the day.
The Chelsea man did create two chances and put up two shots of his own, but with no crucial goal involvements, it's hard to know how his potential sending off would have impacted things.
David Moyes and Co. will just be left to think what could have happened at Hill Dickinson.