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Chelsea’s 17-game unbeaten streak ended with a mistake by Edouard Mendy at Goodison Park when a patched Everton team won 1-0 to deny visitors a chance of reaching the top of the table.
The Blues keeper, bought this season to replace the unconvincing Kepa Arrizabalaga, awkwardly dropped Dominic Calvert-Lewin, allowing Gylfi Sigurdsson to score the decisive penalty in the 22nd minute.
Mendy’s rush of blood came after he watched the Toffees forward beat the experienced Thiago Silva in midair, but when Calvert-Lewin pushed the ball to his side, there was nowhere else to go but to hit the international. from England.
It was the ideal setting for Carlo Ancelotti’s team, which due to injuries lined up with a quartet of center-backs in the back four and without their influential midfielder James Rodríguez, then defended resolutely and counterattacked sporadically to secure a welcome three points later. a win in his previous six outings.
That tactic almost helped them double their lead, but a second penalty, awarded after Ben Chilwell threw back the excellent Calvert-Lewin, was canceled for offside.
Chelsea, who came into the weekend as the second highest scorer in the Premier League behind Liverpool, managed just 10 shots and hit a post through Reece James and Mason Mount when Frank Lampard’s 50th Premier League match in charge ended in defeat, the first since losing to Liverpool. the 20 of September.
Center forward Olivier Giroud, trying to become the second Chelsea player to score in seven consecutive Premier League starts, barely had a chance.
All attention had been focused on Everton’s makeshift wings, but Mason Holgate, right, did an impressive job of keeping Timo Werner calm, although Ben Godfrey found a marauding James a different perspective.
The upside to having four center-backs is that they weren’t willing to go too far from the midline and once Everton got ahead they stuck to their task of stopping the Chelsea attackers and it worked with a clean first sheet from the ground. first game of the season.
Chelsea’s control of initial possession barely benefited them and they lagged midway through the first half thanks to route one football and classic center-forward play.
Calvert-Lewin edged Silva off a long pass from goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and then pushed the ball past Mendy as he charged, with the goalkeeper’s momentum knocking out the Everton forward.
Richarlison, without a Premier League goal since September, wanted the penalty, but his compatriots Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure persuaded him to give up the ball and Sigurdsson coldly sent Mendy down the wrong path.
He did little for the Brazilian international’s confidence and, having weakly shot Mendy when he was well positioned, made it too easy for the goalkeeper to save with his legs as Silva gave up possession and Alex Iwobi and Sigurdsson jumped on the counter.
Between the goal and the last chance of the half, Pickford’s fine form from last week’s draw at Burnley continued as he twice saved James well, launching a shot to a full-length post.
When Pickford reached the edge of his area to hit early in the second half, Mount dropped a balloon on the roof of the net, and the same player then beat Pickford but not the wood with a free throw.
Everton’s chances were rare, with Yerry Mina taking a cross from Calvert-Lewin’s head and Richarlison’s first decent shot forcing a good low save from Mendy before Sigurdsson, only to the side due to injury to the Rodriguez’s calf, will be denied the opportunity to double his penalty count by VAR.
Tammy Abraham replaced the ineffective Kai Havertz for the final 22 minutes, but it had little effect on the result, as the first 2,000 fans within Goodison since March celebrated a welcome victory.
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