Chelsea 2-1 Everton: Willy Caballero Became an Unexpected Hero

steemsports (80)in #steemsports • 7 years ago

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Chelsea raced ahead in the 26th minute thanks to an Antonio Rudiger peach of a header
Willy Caballero provided a series of stunning saves to deny Everton a way back into the game
Ademola Lookman crashed one against the crossbar with nine minutes left in the tie
Willian scored into injury time to secure the win for Chelsea before Dominic Culvert-Lewin stole one back just a minute later

Caballero’s performance against Everton could be broadly classified into two phases. The first was extreme boredom, when he had absolutely nothing to do but watch the play as Chelsea easily kept the Toffees at arms-length, and the second phase was out of this world brilliance as Caballero provided a string of saves that would have caught your average back up keeper out.

Everton side which was managerless and looked clueless under caretaker manager David Unsworth suddenly found their stride in the second half and started forcing easy shots at goal against the second Chelsea line-up. And yet, they met their match in the 36-year-old shot stopper who was signed on a free transfer during the offseason

Antonio Conte had made it abundantly clear that the Carabao cup was to him an opportunity to give his second string players a proper runout, so the biggest surprise was the addition of the priory bubble wrapped new signing Danny Drinkwater at the starting line up.

17-year-old Ethan Ampadu deputized him in the heart of the midfield, flanked by Davide Zappacosta and Kenedy in the wingback roles. Michy Batshuayi was deputized by Willian and Charly Musonda in the attack.

In the team that has seemed down on quality and quantity in midfield since the injury of Ngolo Kante, Chelsea fans were breathing heavy sighs of relief to see the midfielder complete his first 60 minutes in Chelsea fatigues.

As for the Toffees caretaker manager, David Unsworth, he had riches of his own on the field. He made five changes to the team that was absolutely destroyed by Arsenal at the weekend. Most notably, Aaron Lennon was included in the starting lineup, and The English winger was making his first start since he was detained under the Mental Health act earlier this year.

It was a characteristic defensive error that made all the difference in the first half as Everton’s marking was once again shockingly poor when Willian rolled a short corner after 26 minutes. Musonda, under absolutely no pressure from the nearest Everton man, was able to easily take the touch, change direction and afforded the time to aim and whip across at Rudiger in the far post. Rudiger had all the time and space to calmly head the ball back across goal and into the net beyond Jordan Pickford.

Chelsea almost pinched it before the break, when Drinkwater and Michy Batshuayi triggered a massive counter-attack that ended with Davide Zappacosta drilling the ball into the side-netting.

The hostilities of the second half started with Beni Baningme crashing into the impressive Ampadu. The collision seemed to jolt some life into Everton as within moments they laid a siege on the Chelsea goal. Rooney had a volley saved by Caballero who also smothered Lennon's attempt.

Conte seeing a collapse of the midfield domination brought on Cesc Fabregas for the knackered Drinkwater but was still unable to turn the tide that now ebbed firmly in Everton’s favor.

Ademola Lookman hit the bar after he came on as the onslaught continued. However, if Everton failed to use their chances, then Chelsea scored in the 92nd minute out of nowhere.

Only then did Everton find a way through when a shocking turn of events from all of Chelsea center back, Andreas Christensen, Toni Rudiger and Gary Cahill left Calvert-Lewin able to easily capitalize on a loose ball in front of Chelsea’s goal and steal one back for the Toffee.

In the end, Chelsea held on to another victory at home while the Toffees would have to take the positives alongside the negatives as they return to league action on Saturday.