Match Report : Everton 2-0 Chelsea

Chelsea slipped to 5^th place in the table as the Blues slumped to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Everton last night.

Goals from Pienaar and Denis Stracqualursi ensured that the home team grabbed all 3 points and thereby increased the competition for the final Champions League spot.

Chelsea started the game without the likes of Captain John Terry and Ramires. With Meireles, Lampard and Essien in the midfield, it was a conventional 4-3-3 for the Blues that created absolutely no impact whatsoever to the Everton defence.

Chelsea hardly settled into the game and matters worsened for them when Pienaar sent the Toffees ahead in the 6^th minute of the game with a neat shot past goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Chelsea dominated possession after going ahead but failed to break into Everton’s defence. It was not until the 25^th minute that Chelsea had their first real threat when Mata’s pass from the side to Sturridge resulted in a shot that was well defended by Phil Neville.

Chelsea had their best chance in the 28^th minute when Mata’s low cross was met by Lampard. But his resulting shot with his left foot was just wide of the post. That was a chance missed for Chelsea considering Lampard’s calibre.

In the last minute of the first half, Torres made his way into the box and was ‘supposedly’ tripped. Massive appeals for a penalty by Torres were denied by the referee.

With that, Chelsea went 1-0 at the break, with the 4-3-3 formation proving ineffective yet again.

AVB probably didn’t learn anything from the 1^st half as Chelsea began the 2^nd half from where they left the 1^st, plenty of possession but no real threat to the Tofees’ defence.

Loud chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ from the away section were heard when AVB replaced Essien with Malouda. AVB probably knew what he was doing. Shifting from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 with Mata in the hole, but the fact that he replaced Chelsea’s best player of the game with possibly Chelsea’s least interested prompted the chants from the Chelsea faithful.

The introduction of Malouda and a change in formation didn’t add any creativity whatsoever and to make matters worse, Chelsea went 2-0 down in the 71^st minute.

This time though, it was Chelsea’s left full back who was at fault. Cole was dispossessed after a hard but perfect tackle by Phil Neville. The resulting ball was picked up by Donovan who’s through ball to Straq resulted in Everton scoring their second and thereby putting the game to bed.

Meanwhile, AVB called for further abuse on himself from the travelling fans when he replaced Mata with Lukaku. The intentions were clear, but the reason why he replaced Chelsea’s only genuine creative player for Lukaku was a mystery.

Lukaku had a half chance inside the box but his left shot was well saved by Tim Howard. That was probably the only real save Howard made all day.

With no more chances being created till the final whistle by both sides, Chelsea slumped to a defeat, and out of the top 4 thereby increasing the pressure on the young shoulders of Andre Villas Boas.

-     Abhishek Easwaran