Cole Palmer showed his importance for Chelsea as the England international found the net to help the Blues put a difficult run of form behind them with a 2-0 win over Everton at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer was left out of the squad for the defeat to Atalanta in midweek as he continues to deal with a groin injury, but he was fit enough to start against David Moyes’ in-form Everton and he made an early impact on his first Stamford Bridge start in nearly four months.
Malo Gusto’s incisive pass on 21 minutes split Everton wide and Palmer was on the receiving end, powerfully firing home past Jordan Pickford to give Chelsea the lead.
“We said many times with Cole [Palmer] We’re a better team,” said Blues boss Enzo Maresca. “Unfortunately he was out for a lot of games for us, but now he’s back and he’ll definitely help us.”
The goal was just the tonic for Chelsea, who were without a win in their last three Premier League games as their season threatened to derail ahead of the Christmas period, but Maresca’s side were clinical against Everton, whose last win at Chelsea came in 1994.
After a really good period for Everton, which saw James Tarkowski head wide and Jack Grealish denied by goalkeeper Robert Sanchez from a tight angle, Gusto converted a sharp counter-attack from the hosts to put them firmly in the lead going in at the break.
Chelsea’s dominance continued after the break, but Maresca was unwilling to take any chances with Palmer’s fitness and took him off just before the hour mark with his job done.
Once again Everton, who had the chance to go over Chelsea with a win, had chances. Grealish missed a golden opportunity to bring Everton back into the game with a shot on the slider that sailed across goal and wide before Reece James’ free-kick was denied by a fine save from Pickford.
The last chance was Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye, who rolled the ball against the post with Robert Sanchez beaten, but Chelsea, with first-half goals from the returning Palmer and Gusto, had done enough to get back to winning ways and up to fourth in the Premier League table as David Moyes’ wait for a win at Stamford Bridge continues.
‘The reaction was good’
Cole Palmer celebrates with Pedro Neto after giving Chelsea the lead against Everton
After four winless games, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca was pleased with the response from his side against the in-form Everton.
He told Sky Sports: “I’m happy. It’s important to win games after the two or three we didn’t win. It’s important for the players. We’re happy.
“The reaction was good. The players want to win every game. Sometimes we fight a little more, sometimes we are able to win the game. At this moment it was very important for the players to win the game.
“We missed chances. You have to be clinical.
“The game is always open. But overall I am satisfied with the performance.”
The history of the match in statistics…
‘Beat a bit unfairly against Everton’
Everton leader David Moyes speaks to Sky Sports:
“There were some really good moments, we played really well today. We’ve played well away from home [this season] and today we played well. I know you can’t say that when you lose 2-0, but today we did well.
“Maybe we needed to in the final third [a bit of luck]they were clinical in the one or two moments they got, we weren’t so clinical when we got in on goal. That was the difference.
“They did so many good things. We played well but in the end we didn’t get three points. You can say well done all you want but we have to get the three points.”
Opta Stats: Moyes’ wait for a win at Stamford Bridge continues…
Everton boss Moyes has failed to win any of his 21 Premier League away games against Chelsea (D7 L14); against no other side has he faced more away from home in the competition without ever winning (including 21 games against Liverpool).
The Toffees have lost eight of their last 10 Premier League games when they conceded the opening goal (W2), although they did create three big chances in an away game in the competition for the first time since August at Wolves.
Meanwhile, Chelsea ended three consecutive Premier League games without a win, while no team has more clean sheets in the competition this term than the Blues (8).