Chelsea Lose to Everton and Fall Behind in Top 4 Race

With the tail end of the season now upon us, Chelsea fell behind the top 4-chasing pack as they fell to Everton at Goodison Park, to remain in 6th.

It might have seemed that Chelsea had turned a corner in recent weeks, with the win over Spurs highlighting a good bounce-back period for the Blues after the League Cup final debacle. Yet, Maurizio Sarri’s side are always prone to slip ups, as this team still lacks a clear identity, and any sort of power, especially going forward. Chelsea travelled to Goodison Park on Sunday to take on Everton, a side that had not beaten a ‘top 6’ opposition in over 2 years. Chelsea would end up ruing their first-half struggles, as Everton turned up the gears in the 2nd half to seal a big victory. The loss for Chelsea meant that they failed to make up some ground on Manchester United, Arsenal, and Spurs above them, and will remain in 6th.

The first half of this match was extremely bland, with both sides struggling in the final third and Everton in particular hardly going on the front foot in general. Jordan Pickford had a stellar match, and was able to keep out 3 shots on target in the first half alone, and 5 in total throughout the match. The Blues were unable to capitalize on their dominant possession – a recurring theme throughout the season.

Although Everton saw just as little of the ball in the second half as they did in the first, they were a lot more positive when they saw the ball later in the match, and fired an impressive 7 shots on goal in the 2nd half alone. Richarlison opened the scoring right after halftime, as an Everton corner eventually fell to his head in front of goal after some pinballing in the box. A foolish Marcos Alonso foul allowed Everton to essentially seal the victory with a penalty late on. Gylfi Sigurdsson tapped home his 12th of the season after his penalty was saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The win was important for Everton, as they are jostling for spots around mid-table, but still sit in 11th. Chelsea’s top 4 hopes took a huge blow in this match, as they now sit 3 points behind Arsenal in 4th, with just 8 matches remaining.