Everton vs Chelsea. Premier League.
Goodison ParkAttendance39,254.
Free highlights and match report as Jorginho converts penalty after Abdoulaye Doucoure foul on Ben Chilwell to give Chelsea 1-0 win over Everton, for the first victory at Goodison Park since 2017; Demarai Gray, Doucoure go closest for hosts
Sunday 7 August 2022 09:13, UK
Jorginho's penalty earned Chelsea a first win at Everton since 2017, with the hosts' 1-0 defeat worsened by serious injuries suffered by Yerry Mina and Ben Godfrey.
Jorginho converted from the spot with what was the third opening-weekend penalty he has scored for the Blues, after Abdoulaye Doucoure had halted Ben Chilwell's run into the box with a clumsy challenge.
That goal came after more than eight minutes of first-half injury time, added largely due to a nasty early injury suffered by Godfrey in a challenge with Kai Havertz, which saw him requiring oxygen before he was stretchered off and taken to hospital.
To make matters worse, Mina was later forced off when he landed awkwardly after a heavy touch, with both he and Godfrey now likely to be out for "some while" according to manager Frank Lampard.
"It [Godfrey injury] feels like it is a small fracture of his leg," he told Sky Sports. "We are assessing that. He will be out for a while, Mina is an ankle injury and could be out for a while.
"When it rains, it pours."
Those enforced changes in personnel added more frustration to an Everton side forced to operate without a recognised striker on the pitch but from two corners owing to Dominic Calvert-Lewin's injury James Tarkowski forced Edouard Mendy into a fingertip stop before Doucoure pulled an excellent sprawling save out of the Chelsea goalkeeper.
Demarai Gray also beat Thiago Silva in a footrace into the area in a rare promising moment in open play for Everton before the defender recovered to block his effort behind, but the hosts lacked the quality to find a way through as they fell to an opening-day defeat for the first time since 2012.
When asked whether the two defensive injuries would change Everton's transfer plans, Lampard added: "Maybe, maybe not. We've got centre-backs at the club, but we're looking at different areas. I'm not going to declare them now, but everyone can feel there's movement and we're trying to go in the right direction.
"My main focus today is the performance the lads put on the pitch because the fans responded to what the players did today. It's one game out of 38 where we didn't get a point that we should have got, but I take confidence from what the players did out there today and what we can take forward because we're looking to bring some players into the squad."
A promising Everton opening was stopped in its tracks by a seven-minute stoppage when Godfrey was left requiring oxygen and a stretcher after an innocuous challenge with Kai Havertz in his own area.
From then the pattern of the opening half took a different tone, one of Everton withstanding spells of Chelsea pressure and looking occasionally threatening from set-pieces.
Debutant Tarkowski was denied by Mendy at full-stretch in their best chance of the opening period from one corner. Ironically, Chelsea racked up 13 of their own before the break but only forced Jordan Pickford into one real save from a long-range Mason Mount effort.
The hosts looked certain to hold onto the half-time stalemate their workrate had earned until a clumsy tug from Doucoure halted Chilwell's run into the box.
After Craig Pawson's immediate penalty award, Jorginho succeeded in beating Pickford from 12 yards where he had failed in the Euro 2020 final 13 months ago, to give Chelsea the lead in the 54th minute of the opening period.
Fittingly for a game punctuated by stoppages chances came in fits and starts after half-time too. Out of nothing, Doucoure was denied by a fine Mendy stop when a loose ball fell to him at a corner, before Gray's outpacing of Silva, only to be denied a clear sight of goal by the veteran defender's smart positioning.
Without a recognised number nine on the pitch for either side both found chance creation challenging in the final half-hour, with debutant Marc Cucurella forging Chelsea's one late opening of note with a low cross to Sterling, which was kept out by a vital block from Vitaliy Mykolenko.
Sky Sports' Ron Walker:
"Even without the disruptive influence of two injuries which stopped play for several minutes, this was no classic at Goodison Park.
"Frank Lampard has wanted his Everton side to be more pragmatic than they have been previously but without the focal point of Dominic Calvert-Lewin they lacked a cutting edge, which the manager acknowledged in his post-match press conference.
"Having only the ageing Solomon Rondon - who was also unavailable to face Chelsea - does him and Everton no favours with Calvert-Lewin's recent injury record, and more afternoons like this beckon unless another addition arrives before September 1.
"Raheem Sterling brings another attacking edge to Chelsea, and he was everything Thomas Tuchel hoped and expected at Goodison Park, and saw a goal chalked off for offside on his debut, but the rest of their front three, Kai Havertz and Mason Mount, offered little in the final third.
"Cutting their losses on Romelu Lukaku and moving him on was the best option for Tuchel this summer, but without a proper replacement he has a job on his hand to address the same problem which led to the Belgian's return last summer - the lack of a clinical striker."
Everton manager Frank Lampard told Sky Sports:
"I'm frustrated maybe, but not in terms of our performance. I thought we were really good. Defensively, we gave the lads a solid game plan because Chelsea will want to pick you apart and play through you and we never allowed them to, other than one tiny moment of concentration.
"They sometimes they can drag you out of the 18-yard box and it was a tiny mistake from us and it decided the game. In general play, they may have had more possession, but we had better chances. Our lads gave everything and it's purely frustration because of the result.
"I think we gave Chelsea a lot of problems and in terms of our final pass, if you have a No 9 up front, some of the crosses in the first half, they put their head on it and you may score. But I can't ask so much from the front three. Dominic got injured three days ago, so that changes your plans. They are all good players at the top end of the pitch and we gave Chelsea a lot of problems. It's one of those days.
"I don't want to lay too much on my players, in fact it's the opposite, I want to support them because I thought they gave everything. In midfield, considering Doucoure is a No 8 who wants to get in the box and Alex Iwobi used to be a winger and could be a wing-back, he's playing in midfield with that sort of discipline he played today. The structure at the back of the pitch was really good and it was just that little bit that didn't go for us."
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel told Sky Sports:
"We struggled in previous seasons to get points here. We have the points. A win is a win. That's the most important thing. But also get better, we have to get better.
"I could assume that we are not at our highest level. We have players in but they came in late. Pre-season was a bit turbulent. The last week in training was very promising. Some situations in the first half were quite good.
"Then second half we had simply did not have enough movement on the ball and with less movement, there are more ball losses. It was a bit of a strange second half without the rhythm for either team, the interruptions and 10 minutes extra time. But we hung in and we did what was necessary to keep a clean sheet, there were positive things and there we go.
"We know we need to get better but a win helps the most to be open for improvement and the atmosphere and the spirit. This is from where we go on the next step.
"We struggled with physicality because (Kalidou) Koulibaly came late and lacks a bit of training. Raheem was very strong but struggled also in the end. I'm very happy with 20 minutes from Cucurella, he was very strong and important for us."
Everton head to Aston Villa in the early kick-off at 12.30pm on Saturday August 13. It's the start of a string of winnable games at they then play Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Leeds.
The London derby between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge will be live on Sky Sports. Kick-off is at 4.30pm on Sunday August 14.
