Chelsea opened their Premier League campaign with a narrow 1-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday evening.
Result: Everton 0-1 Chelsea
Date: 06 August 2022
Venue: Goodison Park
New signings Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly were given their Blues debuts, while fellow new arrival Marc Cucurella started on the bench.
The Toffees, meanwhile, were without star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin as new signings Dwight McNeil and James Tarkowski got their first starts.
The game's first opening fell to the Blues on 19 minutes when Sterling teed up Mason Mount on the edge of the box, but Jordan Pickford was on hand to make the save.
Chelsea had the ball in the back of the net on 43 minutes when Sterling looked to have secured a debut, but the celebrations were cut short by the offside flag.
Thomas Tuchel's men were awarded a penalty in time added on for Yerry Mina's foul Ben Chilwell, which allowed Jorginho to convert into the bottom corner.
With Chelsea struggling to break down Chelsea, Frank Lampard opted for a change on the hour mark as Dele Alli replaced McNeil in the attack.
Chances were hard to come by at both ends despite seeing Lampard's charges seeing a bit more of the ball in the second half as they went in search of an equaliser.
Sterling nearly put the game to bed in the final 10 minutes after getting on the end of Cucurella's cross, but his goal-bound strike was cleared away by Vitalii Mykolenko.
That did not come back to haunt the visitors, who were able to see out the closing stages to secure the three points.
