MAURICIO POCHETTINO was left tearing his hair out again as his showboating stars were given a lesson in sheer bloody–minded will to win.
In terms of the number of passes Chelsea strung together, and the amount of time they had the ball, this should have been a walk on Goodison Park.
But Sean Dyche’s inspired side showed that while possession is nine-tenths of the law the other bit is about guts, determination spirit and hard work.
In Abdoulaye Doucoure, too, Everton have a midfielder reborn, an attacking threat that right now for all the £1BILLION that has been spent by owner Todd Boehly, represents all that is missing with his players.
Doucoure celebrated his 100th Toffees appearance with a 54th minute blast and while Poch’s team didn’t down tools nor did they exactly indicate that they were willing to put their bodies on the line for the cause either.
The side bringing salvation to the blue half of Merseyside did that all day, like they do every week for their manager.
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Pochettino went into his 19th game in charge sure of only one thing – that he never knows what face his players will be wearing.
They were pallid and passive in last week’s 2–1 defeat at Old Trafford against another side that deceives a lot and flatters only when the mood takes them.
Yet here was a feistier, more committed line–up, one minus Raheem Sterling and Thiago Silva amidst four changes.
Both were dumped to the bench, the decision to leave out the 39-year-old defender perhaps more of a shock than that on Sterling given that he has been almost an ever-present under the manager.
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Watching England head coach Gareth Southgate may not have been that surprised that Sterling didn’t make kick–off given that he now ignores him for his squads.
The shake–up worked, however, against fiercely competitive opponents that have used the 10–point Prem deduction on their club to put extra fire in their bellies.
Mikhailo Mudryk certainly responded.
He was the No.1 target of abuse from frustrated Chelsea fans after the defeat to Manchester United after once again suggesting that his £87m price tag was one inflated beyond all reason.
But he was up against Ashley Young, just a year younger than Silva, and the enigmatic Ukrainian had a ball, tearing at the right back for forty minutes until the older man was run into the ground.
He departed with what appeared to be a hamstring strain and didn’t look that unhappy to be out there.
But despite also losing skipper Reece James to a similar injury earlier Chelsea were enjoying themselves.
Cole Palmer, as he continues to try to make himself the new heartbeat of the team, demanded a lot from Jordan Pickford with a 14th-minute strike.
There were raids a-plenty and in that first half Poch’s men had over 70 per cent possession, truly troubled at the back only once by a fine but off-target attempt from Jack Harrison.
The problem was a lack of cutting-edge.
Striker Armando Broja, especially, couldn’t make space to profit from that dominance.
At one stage he was the subject of serious verbals from Palmer, furious that the Albanian didn’t spot him after the Toffees again struggled to cope.
Meanwhile for all that Mudryk had the ball he continued to show that his feet are usually too fast for his brain while his crosses almost never create any real panic.
Those from McNeil, who 18 months ago cost less than a quarter of that huge fee, so often do.
And he proved it with the delivery that had Poch cursing yet again.
His pass from just inside the left flank was a classic mix of elegance and excellence, Dominic Calvert-Lewin dashing into the box to connect.
Robert Sanchez did well to block at the striker’s feet but his desperate lunge only sent the ball in the direction of Doucoure.
The midfielder who has been transformed by Dyche into an aggressive No.10 was never going to miss, the Toffees’ leading scorer this season taking his tally to eleven with a right–footer Sanchez had no chance of stopping.
He was later forced off, to be replaced by debutant Serbian Dorde Petrovic in the 84th minute.
Sterling and Nicolas Jackson had also replaced Enzo Fernandez and Broja two-thirds of the way through and with Mudryk still running hard Dyche’s defenders had to dig deep and often.
Yet while Chelsea played all the pretty football Dyche’s players know how to do the dirty work to get a result – this is their third win and third clean sheet in a row.
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Dobbin, 20, finished it off in far from ugly fashion, however, having replaced Jack Harrison just nine minutes earlier.
Petrovic flapped under pressure, sending the ball straight at the homegrown winger who lashed a left footer as, once more, the Toffees showed they have every intention of sticking in the Prem – points deduction or not.
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