Frank Lampard has moved to clarify his comments questioning whether his players possessed the b******* to compete but Brentford have gone and shown what this Everton side and so many of their predecessors over the Premier League era have been lacking by going and winning at Stamford Bridge. Not since Joe Royle’s very first away game on November 26, 1994 – a fixture that of course pre-dates the Blues’ last major trophy win in the FA Cup final at the end of the same season – have they collected three points away to Chelsea.
Baby D’s ‘Let Me Be Your Fantasy’ went to the top of the charts that day but it’s been fantasy football hoping that Everton might be able to give a bloodied nose, even in one-off encounters, to any of the Premier League big boys on their own turf for over 27 years since, which is frankly disgusting for a club of their size, history and stature within the game.
Despite all the good work that he produced over 11 years in charge at Goodison Park, steering a club that had finished in the top half of the table just once over the previous decade to nine top 10-placings, David Moyes – who faces his former employers with his West Ham United side on Sunday – never once won away against any of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United or Liverpool during his lengthy tenure, with an FA Cup penalty shoot-out success at Stamford Bridge the closest he got.
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His successor, Roberto Martinez, topped that in his first season with the famous Bryan Oviedo-inspired 1-0 victory, ironically against Moyes’ Manchester United at Old Trafford, but results like that stick out because of their rarity, and neither the Catalan nor his successors have been able to end Everton’s Chelsea hoodoo. Long-running winless streaks away to Arsenal (1996) and neighbours Liverpool (1999) were finally exorcised by Carlo Ancelotti last season, but both were in empty stadia and triumphing in front of capacity crowds at the Emirates Stadium and Anfield are entirely different propositions.
Along with Lampard, long-suffering Evertonians are right to call-out this current team for the sorry predicament they find themselves in when it comes to the Premier League table. With less than a point per game so far this season, this is the club’s worst showing in a top-flight campaign to date going back 132 years. There have to be major question marks over the character of this expensively-assembled group who continue to be much less than the sum of their parts.
However, they are far from alone when it comes to letting down a browbeaten fanbase among those who have donned the royal blue jersey for almost three decades now. When it comes to speculating whether Everton have the stomach for the fight, shocks like Brentford’s 4-1 victory at their more illustrious neighbours and reigning European champions Chelsea come to the fore and shame them.
It’s a hugely-valuable and morale-boosting three points that will probably ensure the Bees are ultimately guaranteed another season of Premier League football. Never mind that Burnley have lost again to Manchester City, it’s also the kind of result that Everton just don’t get, and haven’t done for a very long time.
