Result: Everton 1-0 Chelsea
Date: 12 December 2020
Venue: Goodison Park
Chelsea missed the chance to climb top of the Premier League table after losing 1-0 to Everton on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues made just one enforced change from their victory over Leeds United, as Mateo Kovacic replaced the injured Hakim Ziyech in the line-up. For the hosts, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Mason Holgate replaced James Rodriguez and Fabian Delph, who were both out with injury.
The visitors were forceful in the early stages but conceded a penalty in the 22nd minute after shot-stopper Edouard Mendy clattered into Dominic Calvert-Lewin inside the box, after rushing off his line attempting to avert danger.
Sigurdsson was assigned to the spot-kick and made no mistake, giving Everton the lead with a cool finish into the bottom corner, on the wrong side of Mendy.
Reece James came close to levelling matters for Chelsea immediately after the restart with a low strike from the edge of the box that was tipped into bottom post by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Carlo Ancelotti's charges were playing on a counter-attack and Richarlison had a big chance to double their lead just before the break after going through inside the box but Mendy made a low save at his near post.
Calvert-Lewin thought he had won a penalty in the 63rd minute after the referee pointed to the spot following a challenge by Ben Chilwell inside the box but that decision was reversed after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) spotted an offside in the build-up.
Mason Mount was unfortunate not to get the equaliser in the last ten minutes with a free-kick from the edge of the box that beat Pickford but came off the far post.
In the end, the Toffees held on to clinch a narrow victory that saw them climb up to seventh on the log while the Blues remain in third place, two points off the top spot.
