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James Tarkowski discusses Chelsea tactic he knew Xabi Alonso was going to use vs Everton

Caleb Sage

Sat 17 October 2026 20:00, UK

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James Tarkowski says Everton knew how Chelsea were going to play against them but has admitted that his side were powerless to stop their opponents.

Pedro Neto scored twice in the second half to give Chelsea all three points and send Xabi Alonso’s men to fourth in the Premier League table. It was a close game in the first half, but Neto was clinical after the restart, taking his two goals well.

Tarkowski has since spoken about Neto’s brace and how it happened. While the central defender and his teammates knew what Chelsea came to the Hill Dickinson Stadium to do, they could not prevent the phase of play that resulted in Neto’s opener. As for the second, Tarkowski simply felt that it was “fluky”.

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caleb.sage

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Hato, 9! What we saw today, I did not know he had it in his game!

caleb.sage

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I think Palmer should’ve played in Rogers on the left instead. But we beat one of our away bogey teams without our front three scoring, an encouraging sign!😁

jamesshearman23

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I can’t believe Joao Pedro missed that chance! He and Palmer were slightly underwhelming. Nothing bad to say about the others. Pedro Neto is excelling as a wing-back!

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James Tarkowski knew Chelsea’s plan was to stretch Everton’s backline

In Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and Morgan Rogers, Chelsea have arguably the best attack in the Premier League. But it was their right wing-back Neto who did all the damage on Saturday, and Tarkowski has claimed that Everton knew Chelsea’s game plan would be to exploit the width and play pullbacks.

In a post-match interview with evertontv, which has been shared by Everton’s official club website, Tarkowski said: “We knew the way they were going to get wide and pull the ball back a lot. In the first half, we dealt with that well.

“We didn’t manage to do that [for the first goal]. We didn’t manage to get numbers back in the box — and we got punished for it. The second goal, it feels a bit fluky at the time — to defend a free-kick so well initially, and then to fall at their lad’s foot.”

Because of Palmer, Pedro and Rogers and how high profile they are, some of Chelsea’s other talented players can go under the radar, including Neto. After handing him the Man of the Match award, Owen Hargreaves described Neto as an “unsung hero”.

Pedro is now on three goals for this season in the Premier League. He bagged his first in Chelsea’s 4-3 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion in August.

How Xabi Alonso’s wing-backs inspired Chelsea to 2-0 win at the Hill Dickinson

Given that Chelsea use a system with wing-backs, they are able to stretch defences, and that was certainly the case at the Hill Dickinson. Throughout the whole game, Neto caused a lot of problems on the right touchline.

Heading into the match, Neto had produced the most shot-creating actions per 90 minutes in the furthest forward zone on the right. On the opposite flank, Jorrel Hato was also too much for Everton to handle on Saturday.

In fact, it was the Dutchman’s ball that eventually found its way to Neto for his first goal after some terrific work down the left flank. As the two wing-backs, Hato and Neto really did stretch David Moyes’ side, and it was something that they could not cope with.

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