Chelsea maintain their 100% record in the Premier League after three games
following an astounding 6-3 victory over Everton at Goodison Park. The barely
believable scoreline came at the end of a turbo-charged 2nd half which saw six
goals fly in from all corners of the pitch, ultimately ending with Chelsea
collecting three deserved points. Everton thrw the kitchen sink at Chelsea by
scoring quickfire goals through Steven Naismith and Samuel Eto'o to get within
touching distance of the visitors, who were ultimately too good for the home
side. Diego Costa grabbed a fine brace, with further goals arriving from
Nemanja Matic, Branislav Ivanovic and Ramires.
Everton matched Chelsea like-for-like
in their 4-2-3-1 formation, with the always reliable duo of James McCarthy and
Gareth Barry protecting the team’s fortunes in the middle of the park. Aiden
McGeady got a run in the line-up, joining Steven Naismith and Kevin Mirallas in
support of Chelsea reject Romelu Lukaku. At the back, it was the usual back
four of Seamus Coleman, Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin and Leighton Baines,
ahead of Tim Howard in goal.
Jose Mourinho also had his best
lone-up out on the pitch, with Cesc Fabregas the creative lynchpin of the side,
flanked by Eden Hazard and Williian in able support of Diego Costa, who shook
off an injury scare to start up-front. Nemanja Matic and Ramires shielded the
backline which continued to have Cesar Azpilicueta at left-back, John terry and
Gary Cahill in the middle and Branislav Ivanovic on the right.
The visitors made a flying start as
they took the lead with barely a minute registered on the clock. Fabregas
spotted acres of space on the right-channel and he put Costa clean though with
a square pass and the Brazilian-born striker timed his run to perfection to
steady himself before clinically firing past Tim Howard.
Chelsea were in dreamland moments
later as Ivanovic of all people found himself in a threatening position inside
the box and like Costa before him, the defender confidently finished past
Howard to make it 2-0. Although replays did show that the Serbian was
borderline offside.
With the clock ticking towards the
first half whistle, Coleman produced a fine cross from the right for Mirallas,
who planted a stunning header to halve the deficit for an ecstatic home side.
The 2nd half began starts
with Chelsea looking to strengthen their position further through Costa, who
was twice kept at arms length by an inspired Howard's saves. Everton bossed
possession after the restart, controlling 73% possession at one point in the
half.
But with the clock ticking past the
hour mark, Chelsea sneaked a 3rd goal past Howard to extend their
lead after Hazard made his way down to the left touchline and attempted to
square a pass across the face of the goal but instead managed to see the ball
roll into the back of the net via a huge deflection off an unlucky Coleman.
An end-to-end encounter was lit up
further when Everton went immediately down the other end and reduced the
deficit through Nasimisth, who brilliantly poked the ball home from McGeady’s
through ball at the end of a counter-attack.
What followed was three minutes of
utter madness as both teams scored at either ends in a severely stretched
encounter. Matic seemed to have re-established Chelsea’s comfortable
position by precisely picking the bottom corner on 74 minutes but a free-kick
to Everton moments later ended with substitute Eto’o heading the ball past
Courtois to make it 4-3.
With the Goodison faithful cheering
on wildly, Everton lurched forward in search of an equalizer but it was Chelsea
who regained their two-goal lead through Ramires, who worked magic with Matic
on the right-channel before firing past a tired Howard.
The madness finally came to an end
when Costa sealed Chelsea’s three points with another sharp finish, this time
pouncing on an error from substitute Besic on the stroke of full-time to make
it 6-3, incredible scenes indeed.
Teams:
Everton: Howard,
Baines, Distin, Jagielka, Coleman, Barry, McCarthy, McGeady (Eto'o 70'),
Naismith, Mirallas, Lukaku (Besic 89')
Subs: Joel, Gibson, Besic, Osman,
Stones, Alcaraz, Eto'o.
Chelsea: Courtois,
Azpilicueta, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Matic, Fabregas (Drogba 89'), Ramires,
Willian (Mikel 75', Hazard (Luis 83'), Costa.
Subs: Cech, Luis, Zouma, Drogba,
Mikel, Schurrle, Salah
Final Score: Everton 3-6 Chelsea (
Costa 1' 90', Ivanovic 4', Mirallas 45', Coleman 67' (OG),Naismith 69', Matic
74', Eto'o 76', Ramires 77')
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