FROM STAMFORD BRIDGE – Cole Palmer continued his outstanding season with four goals in Chelsea’s 6-0 win against Everton on Monday night.
The Blues are now only three points behind sixth-placed Newcastle and seventh-placed Manchester United in the Premier League table, boasting a game in hand on both.
Sean Dyche’s Toffees will be looking nervously over their shoulders having suffered a major goal-difference swing for the worse, with two points separating themselves and the relegation zone.
How the game unfolded
Though Chelsea had a lot of the ball early on, Everton should have taken the lead afer ten minutes. Seamus Coleman’s overlapping run was noticed by Ashley Young, and he laid a cross on a plate for Beto, who somehow fired over from a few yards out.
With their first meaningful attack on 13 minutes, Chelsea went ahead in style. Palmer received the ball from deep and ran at Everton, nutmegging Jarrad Branthwaite before playing a one-two with Nicolas Jackson and finding the bottom corner with a curled strike from the edge of the box.
It should have been two for the hosts moments later. Mykhailo Mudryk slipped through Noni Madueke, who then dinked Jordan Pickford in order to find Palmer again, but the ball ricocheted off his backside and bounced out away from goal.
But Palmer didn’t have to wait too long to find the net again. An elaborate free-kick routine ended with Mudryk cutting back for Jackson, whose initial strike was spilled by Pickford, but Palmer was quickest to react and headed into an empty net.
By 29 minutes, Palmer had his perfect hat-trick. Pickford’s woeful pass out from the back was cut out by Chelsea’s number 20, whose instinctive right-footed lob from 35 yards dropped over the line.
Everton thought they’d pulled one back before the break when Beto headed in from a looping Coleman cross, only to be denied by the offside flag.
Just before the break, Chelsea’s lead stretched to four. Palmer picked out Marc Cucurella making a run towards the corner flag, and his floated cross was plucked out of the air by Jackson, who took a touch to set himself before lashing a half-volley in.
On the other side of half-time, Branthwaite rose highest to meet an Everton corner but headed into the side-netting as the visitors looked to mount an improbable comeback.
Palmer was frustrated he didn’t score a fourth of his own at the end of a swift breakaway which ended with Mudryk playing him in one-v-one, with Pickford this time denying him with his feet.
A cross from Malo Gusto was dropped by Pickford and onto the legs of Nathan Patterson before the ball mercifully trickled wide.
On the hour mark, Chelsea were awarded a penalty. Palmer was initially clipped but play was waved on until Madueke fell under a challenge from James Tarkowski. Palmer, having ignored the angry pleas of Jackson and Madueke, took the ball for the spot-kick and slotted home from 12 yards.
In the final minute of normal time, Pickford produced a fine save to deny Ben Chilwell, only for Alfie Gilchrist to lash in his first senior goal and round off the scoring.
GK: Djordje Petrovic – 6/10 – A passenger for much of the evening, though his distribution still had Chelsea fans on edge early in the evening.
RB: Malo Gusto – 7/10 – Brave and emboldened when in possession, playing a hand in the opener. Got away with a poor back-pass into Chalobah in the opening exchanges but was untroubled thereafter.
CB: Trevoh Chalobah – 7/10 – Given another chance to impress due to Chelsea’s injury crisis and took that opportunity well, even if Everton provided little threat.
CB: Thiago Silva – 7/10 – Serenaded all evening long by the home fans who love him so. Might never play an easier game for Chelsea.
LB: Marc Cucurella – 7/10 – Mocked on social media previously for a supposed lack of link-up with Mudryk, but that duo worked neatly in tandem tonight.
CM: Moises Caicedo – 8/10 – One of the Ecuadorian’s best performances in the blue of Chelsea. Trampled all over Onana in a rather telling first-half battle.
CM: Conor Gallagher – 7/10 – Thrived in a deeper role in the absence of Enzo Fernandez. Had to step in to mediate when Madueke and Jackson wanted Palmer’s penalty.
RW: Noni Madueke – 8/10 – From Chelsea’s opening kick-off looked up for the challenge, continually taking the opportunity to drive at Everton’s static defence. Threatened to ruin the mood by reacting angrily to not being allowed the second-half penalty.
AM: Cole Palmer – 10/10 – What more can you even say to do him justice? A genius. A wizard. An alien. A Mancunian who loves his chippy chips with curry sauce. A Chelsea superstar who loves scoring goals.
LW: Mykhailo Mudryk – 7/10 – Chelsea tended to build play down the right when they were settled in possession, but always looked to release the pace Mudryk when countering. Everton tried to double up on him but to little avail.
CF: Nicolas Jackson – 8/10 – The best and worst of Jackson was on display here. Linked up well with Palmer, scored a delectable goal, got rather petty over who should have been allowed to take the penalty.
Substitutes
SUB: Carney Chukwuemeka (72′ for Madueke) – 6/10
SUB: Ben Chilwell (80′ for Mudryk) – 7/10
SUB: Cesare Casadei (80′ for Palmer) – 6/10
SUB: Alfie Gilchrist (88′ for Gusto) – 8/10
SUB: Deivid Washington (88′ for Jackson) – 6/10
Subs not used: Marcus Bettinelli (GK), Benoit Badiashile, Kiano Dyer, Tyrique George
Manager
Mauricio Pochettino – 9/10 – Minus a couple of minor early scares, this was the blueprint Pochettino performance from Chelsea. Still has some questions to answer about the maturity of his young squad, but he’s building a strong case he should be the one to sort them out.
GK: Jordan Pickford – 2/10 – A moment of madness to gift Palmer his hat-trick. Taunted by the Shed End in the second half.
RB: Seamus Coleman – 4/10 – Started brightly with his runs on the outside of young but was sacrificed for considerably fresher legs in Patterson for the second half.
CB: James Tarkowski – 2/10 – Lacked any sort of composure on both sides of the ball. Booked for a cynical challenge out of frustration in the second half.
CB: Jarrad Branthwaite – 2/10 – Rightly praised for his development this season but he was made to look miles off the very best by Palmer, being sold by a nutmeg leading to the opening goal. Brought off with an injury in the second half.
LB: Vitaliy Mykolenko – 4/10 – Never shied away from the task of building from the back or trying to get tight to Madueke. He just wasn’t particularly great at either of those things.
RM: Ashley Young – 3/10 – Didn’t provide enough cover for his full-back or enough of a threat in attack, essentially making his spot in the team a little redundant.
CM: James Garner – 4/10 – Wasn’t afraid to get stuck in but that’s all he really brought to the contest in his 45 minutes on the pitch.
CM: Amadou Onana – 3/10 – Chelsea were so easily able to bypass his physically enormous presence in midfield. Hooked at half-time too.
LM: Dwight McNeil – 3/10 – The standard of his crosses were subpar, to put it nicely. Awful, to put it meanly.
AM: Abdoulaye Doucoure – 3/10 – Unable to find a use for himself both directly behind Beto or further back in midfield.
CF: Beto – 2/10 – If Everton had a striker with a strike-rate better than one goal every thousand shots, they might not be in a relegation battle.
Substitutes
SUB: Nathan Patterson (46′ for Coleman) – 3/10
SUB: Andre Gomes (46′ for Onana) – 4/10
SUB: Jack Harrison (46′ for Garner) – 4/10
SUB: Michael Keane (57′ for Branthwaite) – 3/10
SUB: Ben Godfrey (90′ for Patterson) – N/A
Subs not used: Joao Virginia (GK), Lewis Warrington, Arnaut Danjuma, Youssef Chermiti,
Manager
Sean Dyche – 2/10 – Everton were outfought and outthought before just straight up losing their rag.
Player of the match – Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
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