Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti outwitted his former player Frank Lampard as his side put on a superbly organised performance to beat Chelsea 1-0 at Goodison Park, writes Ben Grounds
Sunday 13 December 2020 11:02, UK
Everton supporters returned to Goodison Park for the first time in nine months, and their team produced a performance that has been a long time coming to defeat Chelsea.
It was back in March when Everton were on the receiving end of a chastening 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge and Frank Lampard's side inflicted an unhappy return for Carlo Ancelotti to his former club.
That day, Gylfi Sigurdsson was played out of position on the left as part of a 4-4-2 system that was easily picked off by the hosts as Mason Mount, Pedro, Willian and Olivier Giroud all scored in a convincing home win.
For Ancelotti it was a reality check following his promising start to life on Merseyside, and a reminder of his side's progress being in its infancy.
For the disgruntled Evertonians who streamed out onto the Fulham Road that spring afternoon, little did they know it would be a further nine months before some of them would witness their team again in the flesh, faced with the same opposition.
Chelsea are vastly improved this season, and while Lampard admitted more nights like these will occur as his side transition into Premier League title contenders, Ancelotti will take plenty of encouragement on an evening when the Italian's managerial experience came to the fore.
Having not kept a clean sheet since the opening weekend, it was noticeable from the first whistle that Everton had set up to be more compact.
In the same way that Morgan Schneiderlin and Sigurdsson were deployed as deep-lying midfielders in the 3-1 win over Chelsea 12 months ago, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Allan were told to screen the back four with Sigurdsson playing in his preferred No 10 position behind Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Richarlison and Alex Iwobi were tasked with providing protection for Ben Godfrey and Mason Holgate in the full-back positions and the game plan was to catch Chelsea on the counter-attack or from dead-ball situations.
Allan's tenacity helped Everton regain the ball on 11 occasions, while Doucoure produced a disciplined display alongside him to limit the influence of Mount.
Everton had 28 per cent possession, their lowest on record in a single Premier League match they went on to win. But in absorbing Chelsea's best efforts, the tactic to contain and counter worked a treat.
Sigurdsson's most creative performance for the club in over three years was all the more noticeable in James Rodriguez's absence.
When both were on the pitch from the start against Manchester United in the 3-1 home defeat last month, Ancelotti left himself short of a technician to come off the bench. When Plan A failed, Everton ran out of ideas.
It was not the first time the pair had been unable to dovetail effectively, and finding a way of accommodating Rodriguez while addressing a leaky defence has been foremost in Ancelotti's thoughts during a difficult run of one win in seven games.
But on Saturday, Everton outran Chelsea - 108.85km to 106.74km - and it is questionable whether such intensity would have been possible had the Colombian been catered for.
Undoubtedly, Rodriguez is the linchpin of Ancelotti's Everton and integral to his plans to turn the side back into European contenders, but having provided six key passes and covered 10.07km by himself, Sigurdsson took his opportunity to prove he still has a future at Goodison - three-and-a-half years after his club-record £45m arrival.
The challenge now is for him to produce on a more consistent basis, with and without Rodriguez.
A feature of Everton's game was to force their opponents to attack from wide positions. The personnel in Ancelotti's 4-2-3-1 formation enabled this to be successful as Sigurdsson was able to put the squeeze on N'Golo Kante at the base of Chelsea's midfield. But the use of natural centre-halves Mason Holgate and Ben Godfrey as sitting full-backs ensured there was little space in behind for the likes of Timo Werner to wreak havoc.
Chelsea produced 32 crosses at Goodison but only four of them found a team-mate as Michael Keane and Yerry Mina kept Olivier Giroud at bay. Tammy Abraham was introduced for the final 20 minutes, but the substitution played into Everton's hands as Chelsea were reduced to chances from outside of the box.
The visitors focused 38 per cent of their attacks down Everton's left through Reece James - predominantly operating in tandem with Mateo Kovacic, but when Godfrey was beaten with the cross, Keane was invariably on hand to clear, as he did on nine separate occasions.
The set-up protected Jordan Pickford and forced Chelsea into shooting more often from outside the box.
Godfrey was perceived as a weak link having been deployed out of position at left-back, but the summer signing from Norwich has now played in all three positions across the back for Everton this term and has not been found wanting since a challenging afternoon at Southampton.
The 22-year-old made five interceptions to thwart Chelsea's attacks down their right while only one of Ben Chilwell's five crosses reached its target with Holgate making eight clearances himself on his return to the team.
Speaking after the defeat, Lampard said: "When you give them a head start in this stadium against this team, it's very difficult."
The Chelsea head coach was in no mood for making excuses after his side fell short for the first time since they were beaten by Liverpool back in September, but there is no denying the 2,000 fans back at Goodison made a huge difference.
The players fed off the enthusiasm from the stands - and while certain clubs have arguably benefitted from not having dissenting voices heard during troubled times, Everton have always sought to make use of their 12th man.
Ancelotti had not suffered a home defeat during his tenure prior to the Premier League's restart back in June, but in the 10 league games since without supporters, Everton lost on three occasions - including their last two in a row against Manchester United and Leeds.
With Arsenal, United in the Carabao Cup quarter-final and Manchester City to come this month, housing 1,500 of the 2,000 permitted in the Gwladys Street End was an inspired move, and one that should greatly benefit Ancelotti's side.
This was the third successive home victory for Everton in the Premier League over Chelsea, and after Calvert-Lewin's coming-of-age display in this fixture last December, there was a maturity in the way he led the line. Now an England international, he showed strength and an acute awareness to win the first-half penalty. The 23-year-old was full of selfless running.
By contrast, Richarlison is still some way short of his best form. The Brazil forward has so often been the team's talisman, and he grabbed the ball in expectation to take the decisive penalty before Ancelotti got his point across that Sigurdsson was the designated spot-kick taker.
There were other moments besides that will have infuriated supporters - fouled on three occasions, there were many more times where he spent too long on the deck in protest against decisions. But his presence drew Chelsea into conceding needless free-kicks, all contributing to a stop-start contest the played in Everton's favour.
That said, two tame first-half efforts betrayed a player lacking in confidence while he was not best pleased when he was replaced in the final few minutes despite Everton's clear need to protect a slender advantage.
Having earned a three-match suspension for a reckless challenge in the Merseyside derby on Thiago Alcantara, Everton are still waiting for Richarlison to repay the cost of a ban that derailed the team's promising start. But perhaps the most pleasing aspect for Ancelotti was how this collective effort dispelled the sense of an over-reliance on him.
