That was more like it for Chelsea after a significant recent wobble, with Everton beaten 2-0 in the sort of routine home win that can ease all manner of angst.
The hard-fought 1-1 draw against Arsenal, achieved despite playing most of the game a man down and with that man being their clear player of the season to that point, had appeared to herald their arrival as serious players in this season’s title race.
That wouldn’t do at all, because Enzo Maresca simply hates that kind of chat. Having insisted last season that Chelsea weren’t title contenders right up until they self-fulfilled the prophecy around this time of year, they repeated the trick by following up that Arsenal result with a miserable defeat at Leeds and a scrappy point against Bournemouth.
Throw another defeat in the mix against Atalanta in the Champions League and suddenly that 1-1 draw against Arsenal that looked like the start of something really good had instead become the start of a four-match winless run.
That’s a particularly silly run to have just after paddling Barcelona 3-0, you have to say.
But the visit of Everton, whose sole Premier League win on this ground came over 31 years ago in November 1994, was always likely to offer the chance to put things slightly right.
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Nevertheless, Chelsea might have been a touch fortunate to lead at all at the break, never mind 2-0, after the visitors contributed plenty. Football being football, Chelsea’s dominance and control of proceedings were far more evident after the break despite failing to add to their advantage.
No prizes either for guessing the second most welcome sight of the day, after the result itself, for the home fans. Cole Palmer’s opening goal in what was only his second start since September was also only his fifth Premier League goal of 2025, just his third since January and his second of the year in a game Chelsea would go on to win.
Stands to reason that Cold Palmer should thrive in the winter, obviously. Last season he scored seven Premier League goals in a nine-game run through December and January, and if he can get back to anything like his pre-2025 goalscoring form then Chelsea’s all-competition prospects will become much brighter.
It does still feel like a road too far to get back into a title race where the overwhelming likelihood is that by close of play tonight they will again be eight points behind Arsenal, but this win lifts them back into the top four for now.
They’re back above Crystal Palace and, with Oliver Glasner’s team playing Manchester City tomorrow there isn’t really any result there that need ruin Chelsea’s weekend now.
It remains an irritation that Chelsea have once again talked themselves out of a title race just as things were getting interesting, but today was a reminder that what undeniably remains a showy and expensively assembled collection of excellent footballers rather than a cohesive and planned top-level squad can be very good when the mood takes them.
And that perhaps we shouldn’t let it get to us that they can’t seem to be more than that more consistently. That’s not what anyone’s actually trying to build here. Maybe Maresca isn’t just minimising expectations and pressure when he says what he says.
Dion Roberie
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