You would be forgiven if you were mistaken in thinking Nicolas Jackson’s striking finish against Everton meant more than what it was. The 1-0 victory was a crucial step in Chelsea’s Champions League pursuit. Still, when the ball hit the back of the net Jackson looked to have tears in his eyes as he emotionally celebrated alongside his teammates. It was the striker’s first in 14 games and amid the hosts’ recent struggles up front, it felt like a welcome breakthrough, belied that the job of securing their European ambitions is far from over.
“We never had doubts with the ones who struggled for parts of the season” said Enzo Maresca, who was celebrating his 50th Chelsea match in charge with a one-match touchline ban after picking up a third yellow card of the season against Fulham last weekend. “We had to support them even more and Nico finally found a goal today.”
Before kick-off, Chelsea had averaged more shots per game at home than any other Premier League side this season with 18.8 and the trend continued on Saturday. The hosts had five shots in the first half against an Everton side who had little to play for after safety was confirmed last weekend. The visitors offered little going forward despite attempting to target Moisés Caicedo, who was playing out of his preferred position at right-back at the expense of the captain, Reece James, to make room for Roméo Lavia in midfield, back for the first time in over a month.
The hosts’ first chance came in the ninth minute after Pedro Neto nearly latched on to Lavia’s neat ball over the top which Jordan Pickford was quick off the line to claim. A minute before Cole Palmer, who has now gone 17 matches without a goal, briefly got goalside of the Everton defence but had Levi Colwill’s pass from over the top smothered from under his feet. The 22-year-old continued to struggle and was outshone by the rest of Chelsea’s frontline.
Noni Madueke was the first to truly test Pickford after breaking clear on the left, cutting inside and curling in a low, powerful shot with his weaker foot the England No 1 managed to palm away at full stretch.
The breakthrough came when Pickford passed the ball out to Beto, the 6ft 4in striker too easily bundled off it by Trevoh Chalobah near the halfway line. Chelsea wasted no time in the transition as Enzo Fernández played a straight pass to Jackson who swivelled and rifled a low shot into the bottom corner.
“He has to retain the ball. Simple as that,” said Everton manager, David Moyes, of Beto. “We are trying to improve, we are trying to get better at retaining possession. If you look at modern football, you can talk about 100-200 goals scored due to mistakes. Our centre-backs chose to split at that moment.”
The opener was Jackson’s first goal since 15 December and Maresca celebrated loudly from the back of the press box. “A disaster, to be honest,” he joked on his obstructed view. “I prefer to be on the bench. You want to say something but no one can hear.”
● Chelsea are unbeaten across 30 home Premier League games against Everton since a 1-0 loss in November 1994 (W17 D13), the Blues’ longest unbeaten home league run against an opponent.
● Only against Leeds (36 between 1953 and 2001) have Everton had a longer winless away run in their league history (D13 L17).
● Everton have scored fewer away goals than any other Premier League side this season (12), with today being the eighth time they’ve failed to find the net on the road this season.
● Nicolas Jackson’s goal in the 27th minute was the first that Chelsea have scored in the first half of a Premier League game in seven outings, bringing an end to what was their longest first-half drought in the competition since February-March 2012. Opta
Late in the first half Robert Sánchez collided hard into Vitaliy Mykolenko and the referee, Chris Kavanagh, gave the hosts a free-kick when it looked more like Sánchez charged into the full-back. Had he not still had contact with the ball then the Chelsea goalkeeper might have faced a penalty from the visitors. Soon after, Everton’s first chance fell to Abdoulaye Doucouré after a floating cross from Mykolenko but the Malian’s header was wildly off the mark.
Jackson, feeling himself certainly, almost doubled his side’s lead after intercepting Nathan Patterson’s weak backpass but Pickford came to his right-back’s rescue with a stop. Later on, the striker thought he had a second after Marc Cucurella’s shot was palmed straight to his path but he was offside.
Everton have been draw specialists, with 14 in the league this season – the most of any side – but they lacked attacking intent even when Chelsea let off in the second half. Sánchez shook off his nervy first-half performance to save their best chances, with Beto hitting a super strike in the 63rd minute the goalkeeper sharply parried away before he tipped Dwight McNeil’s shot.
Since his arrival, Moyes has made Everton a defensively disciplined side, with only Liverpool, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest conceding fewer goals in the top flight. But their failure to score in a league-high of 15 games proves, with the club’s newest American billionaire investor, there is a lot of work to be done next season.
