LONDON – It feels like everyone is in on it Chelsea‘S Draw 1-1 with Everton or chewing on their nails, or holding on to them. Chelsea will lament two points dropped and conceded in the title race, partly due to their own poignancy but also due to a string of brilliant saves from Jordan Pickford. Everton, with a temporary squad without 12 players in the first team, scored from their only clear chance.
“It’s a bad result for this kind of game,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel later said.
Meanwhile, Premier League to be facing the growing COVID-19 crisis with more matches decreasing by day.
This is the Chelsea performance we’ve grown accustomed to recently: Tuchel turned away disappointedly as his side enjoyed all the possession and opportunities, but lacked the ability to finish. For Everton, this is a result they can build on – earning just four points from the 30 available – but both groups of supporters who have left Stamford Bridge are uncertain exactly when they will meet their next team. As far as COVID-19 takes hold England for the second holiday in progress.
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It was a game where all of Chelsea’s best plans went awry, even before the team even played. On Wednesday, Tuchel talked about how excited he was to give Romelu Lukaku about 70 minutes against Everton. On Thursday lunchtime, the manager heard how Manchester Unitedmatch with Brighton & Hove Albion on the weekend was boxed, as he counted the players entering and leaving the dining room, waiting for the PCR test and seeing if he had anyone left.
Tuchel said before the game, the thought of pushing to postpone the match had never crossed his mind, even though the COVID-19 outbreak is ripping through his plans. Positive tests ruled out Lukaku, Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi, while they also have no health Kai Havertz, who is waiting for the next PCR results.
“We didn’t discuss for a second about it being called off,” Tuchel said. “I don’t know the rules, and I’m not interested in them.”
This is only the third Premier League game played under Plan B conditions – in which supporters must present proof of vaccinations or a negative COVID test result – and as they begin to walk along the Road Fulham arrived at Stamford Bridge, another match was played, with Leicester Citymatch with Tottenham Hotspur next fall. Before the siege, Everton’s patchwork team even took to the pitch to warm up, four more games postponed – including their next against Leicester on Sunday.
“Everyone’s health is the most important thing, and if we have to cancel the game and if we have to send the right message, then we will do it because it is our responsibility,” the boss of the team said. Toffees, Rafa Benitez, talking about the COVID situation after the game. “They have to think about how to stop the number of COVID cases, because otherwise, things will get worse later on.”
But despite the interruptions, the game went on and Chelsea attacked from the start and immediately targeted Everton’s left, with Reece James, Jorginho and Mason Mountain Pick up the hole in the back of the opposition. The home side should have taken the lead within five minutes as James and Mount both shot from long distances from good positions. Chelsea were outclassed by Everton, shrinking 5-4-1.
Christian Pulisic starting at false nine, flanked by Mountains and Hakim Ziyech, and found himself bravely fighting for the high ball but struggling to create clear chances. His best chance was an instep save 10 minutes into the game, which was comfortably saved by the excellent Pickford.
By half-time, Chelsea had 13 shots – with Mount squandering a clear one-on-one with Pickford – with two from Everton. It was attack against defence, Chelsea completely dominated while Everton waited for the flashiest opportunity, with Ellis Simms was given the ungrateful task of his Premier League debut of holding the ball in front of the first choice of three Chelsea defenders.
Tuchel looked increasingly frustrated – at one point performing a noticeably angry pirouette in response to Ziyech and Marcos Alonso lavish ownership – while Benitez cut an increasingly exasperated figure.
The second half was the same, Everton occasionally looking for opportunities to counter-attack – often not easily repulsed Thiago Silva – and it takes that Tuchel magic to change the game. It happened in the 62nd minute, when he introduced Saul and Ross Barkley – switch Pulisic to left-back and play Atlético Madrid loanee in a position he probably hasn’t played since school.
Seven minutes later, Silva is blocked Abdoulaye DoucoureA quick run – snuffing out a rare Toffees breakthrough – James picks Mount and he hits Pickford’s net in the near corner. Benitez returned to his bench, jaws locked in anger and frustration.
It looked like the dam would break, but Everton bounced back and won the equalizer like Jarrad Branthwaite joke Anthony Gordonof the free kick. Chelsea finally threw everything in the direction of the visitors’ goal with 16 minutes remaining, but Pickford made a brilliant save after Silva’s header and everything else went up in the air. It was a fantastic performance by Everton, but Chelsea will have to watch out for those missed opportunities.
“I’m happy with the whole team on the pitch and I think that was good enough to win the game,” Tuchel said. “Do we want all our players? Of course we do. Wouldn’t we have been without them? Yes, sure, but that’s never the only reason for lack of results. fruit.”
Chelsea’s defensive weakness has reappeared, they have conceded eight goals in their past five matches after conceding only four in their first 12, as they have failed to cope with the only one. Their goal is really difficult. And there are familiar problems of having time and space in and around the box, but not creating opportunities. Tuchel will be furious with two wasted points, with the league lead City of Manchester currently leading by four points.
As for Everton, their next match has been postponed. They will have to wait a while to build this performance, but the hope is that they will have more of their wounded and sick people.
That doesn’t mean it will ease the pressure on Benitez. In a stadium packed with rafters, in a game based on claustrophobia, Benitez looked lonely on the touchline, the only one socially distanced among travel supporters. Everton’s calendar, who held a banner aloft before the game reading: “Benitez Get out of Our Club”. But he took the tactic, putting the players at his disposal, on a night when the club’s young players came in for him.
“It’s arguably the most important result [of my time at Everton] – We’ve had too many problems with injuries and illnesses,” Benitez said. That’s a great point, but the way we earned it [was important]. “
We’re not halfway through the season yet, but Thursday’s game could still make sense at the end of the campaign, whenever that’s the case. Chelsea will be hoping this is just a bump in the road, Everton starting their restart under Benitez. But hanging over all of this on a warm, off-season night in London, is uncertainty about the immediate future of the Premier League as COVID-19 squeezes clubs and fixtures.
