You would be forgiven if you were mistaken in thinking Nicolas Jackson’s striking finish against Everton meant more than what it was. The 1-0 victory was a crucial step in their Champions League pursuit. Still, when the ball hit the back of the net Jackson looked to have tears in his eyes as he emotionally celebrated. It was the striker’s first in 14 games and amid the hosts’ recent struggles up front, it felt like a welcome breakthrough, belied that the job of securing their European ambitions is far from over.
Before kick-off, Chelsea had averaged more shots per game at home than any other Premier League side this season with 18.8 and the trend continued on Saturday. The hosts had five shots in the first half against an Everton side who had little to play for after safety was confirmed last weekend. The visitors offered little going forward despite Moisés Caicedo playing out of position at right-back at the expense of the captain, Reece James, to make room for Roméo Lavia in midfield, back for the first time in over a month.
Noni Madueke was the first to test Jordan Pickford after breaking clear on the left, cutting inside and curling in a low, powerful shot with his weaker foot that the England No 1 managed to palm away at full stretch.
The breakthrough came when Pickford passed the ball out to Beto, the 6ft 4in striker too easily bundled off the ball by Trevoh Chalobah near the halfway line. Chelsea wasted no time in the transition as Enzo Fernández played a straight pass to Jackson who swivelled and rifled a low shot into the bottom corner for the opener to score his first goal since 15 December. Maresca, who was celebrating his 50th Chelsea match in charge with a one-match touchline ban after picking up a third yellow card of the season against Fulham last weekend, celebrated loudly from his partially obstructed view in the back of the press box.
Seven minutes from the half-time whistle Robert Sánchez collided hard into Vitaliy Mykolenko. The referee, Chris Kavanagh, gave the hosts a free-kick when it looked more like Sánchez charged into the full-back. Had he not still had contact with the ball then the Chelsea goalkeeper might have been facing a penalty from the visitors.
Jackson, feeling himself certainly, almost doubled his side’s lead after intercepting Nathan Patterson’s weak backpass but Pickford came to his right-back’s rescue with a stop.
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Everton have been draw specialists, with 14 in the league this season, the most of any side, but they lacked attacking intent at Stamford Bridge even when Chelsea let off in the second half. David Moyes has done well to keep the Merseyside club up but with the American billionaire Christopher Sarofim, the club’s newest investor, there is a lot of work to be done next season.
