Liverpool : Everton ended Chelsea’s 17-game unbeaten run with a 1-0 victory at Goodison Park on Sunday (December 13).
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s first-half penalty on 22 minutes after Edouard Mendy fouled Dominic Calvert-Lewin, was the only and decisive goal which allowed Everton to earn much needed points.
Although after conceding Frank Lampard’s got a woke call, side who then forced three saves out of Jordan Pickford. A shot from Reece James was tipped away by Pickford, denying Chelsea their equaliser.
Mason Mount also got the chance to score, but he hit the woodwork for the visitors after 81 minutes. Chelsea failed to find the fluidity in their and looked lacked luster. Everton put down some good defence show which has been their worry since Seamus Coleman and Lucas Digne’s injury.
Carlos Ancelotti’s side also had good chances to increase their lead, Richarlison’s two shots was saved and Yerry Mina failed to bring justice to two header.
“The fans made a lot of difference, it was a total different atmosphere,” said Ancelotti, whose side just climbed to the seventh position in the league table with a much required win. “We only had 2,000 fans, but it made me happy, and I hope the stadium will be full as soon as possible.”
“We needed this performance and the points after a difficult period,” the Everton head coach further added. “We lost a little of bit of our confidence, a bit of our attitude
“Tonight we won for the spirit, not the quality of the play, we didn’t have the ball a lot, but we defended really well.”
“It is a long season and these people talking about us winning the league with the best squad, it is ridiculous,” Lampard said post the match.
“You have to look at the teams winning it the last three or four years, they have wingers, strikers scoring 30 or 40 goals. There are squads who have won leagues and Champions Leagues, and we are clearly not that.”
Olivier Giroud, who lately looked threatening failed to continue his recent fine form and at times he was found isolated by team-mates Kai Havertz and Timo Werner. With this loss Chelsea remain in the third position of the league table.
