Everton 0 Chelsea 1 : New role for Iwobi, no debut for Chukwuemeka

Chelsea faced Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday in an action-packed game in both teams' first match of the new Premier League season with the final score ending in a slim 1-0 win for the Blues.

Nigeria international midfielder Alex Iwobi made the Toffees first starting line-up of the season, sliding into a deep-lying playmaker role in midfield alongside Doucoure to form a midfield pivot.

There was no debut for Chelsea new boy Carney Chukwuemeka who was omitted from the matchday squad, two days after completing his move to Stamford Bridge from Villa Park.

The game began in a calm fashion as Everton passed the ball around with Chelsea being unable to get a foothold on the ball for the first few minutes. The game kicked into gear in the 7th minute as the first shot on target was registered.

James Tarkowski fouled new Chelsea signing Raheem Sterling in a dangerous position and the resulting freekick which was zipped in by Reece James found the head of Kai Havertz, but English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made a routine save.

In the tenth minute, Everton almost found themselves in trouble as Ben Godfrey made a blindsided back-pass which Pickford managed to claw out but only as far as Havertz who was lurking.

Godfrey sacrificed himself to block the resulting effort and injured himself in the process and was subsequently replaced by Holgate.

Iwobi took one for the team when he had to bring Raheem Sterling down in the 30th minute as the ex-Manchester City man raced in behind the backline.

The ex-Hale End Academy graduate also set Gordon on his way in the 34th minute but was pulled back by Koulibaly.

As expected, Chelsea dominated possession for a large spell but were unable to penetrate the Toffees' backline.

The 37th to 42nd minute saw hustling and bustling end-to-end football as both teams gave the ball away in dangerous positions and counter-attacked each other fiercely.

Sterling scored from a rebound after Pickford spilled an earlier shot from N'golo Kante but it was correctly flagged for offside.

Chelsea then scored the opening goal in the ninth minute of first half stoppage time through a penalty after Doucoure bundled Ben Chilwell over in the 18-yard-box.

Everton came flying out of the blocks for the second half and put Chelsea under serious pressure as Iwobi set up Doucoure whose shot was fired straight at Mendy in the 51st minute.

Everton continued to pile on the pressure and Chelsea were forced to keep possession and take out the wind from Everton's sails.  

New signing Cucurella was brought on alongside Broja in the 75th minute to help add more attacking drive replacing Koulibaly who had cramps and Havertz respectively.

Then Sterling came close to scoring in the 84th minute after he met Cucurella's cross but his effort was deflected wide.

The game was paused for three minutes in the 85th minute due to an emergency in the crowd. Ten minutes additional time and as expected, Chelsea's game management kicked in as they petered out all attempts from Everton to stage a comeback.

Sofoluwe Mayowa

Photo Credit : evertonfc.com

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