- The Guardian Monday 2 May 2022
(^42) Sport
Football Premier League
It was all too much for the Everton
legend Colin Harvey, who could bear
no more Chelsea pressure and made
for the exit with a few minutes to go.
But Frank Lampard’s team could take
it and Everton’s refusal to go quietly
ensured they remain in charge of
their precious, precarious Premier
League destiny.
Richarlison struck the only goal
Everton fi re a fl are of hope
in their battle for survival
that condemned Chelsea to a fourth
successive Premier League defeat
at Goodison Park and left Thomas
Tuchel openly worrying about his
team’s Champions League qualifi -
cation prospects.
In the wild cele brations that fol-
lowed, the Brazil international picked
up a fl are that had been thrown on
to the pitch and launched it, Ever-
ton say, out of the ground. A Foot-
ball Association investigation will
follow. Richarlison will consider it a
small price to pay if his contribution
ultimately hauls in Burnley or Leeds.
Everton were besieged for much of
the second half but Jordan Pickford
was immense, so too Yerry Mina, as
they repelled everything Chelsea
threw at them with a spirit of defi ance
that fl owed through the entire club.
Evertonians did whatever they
could to lift their team before a
must-win fi xture. Chelsea players
were disturbed in the early hours of
yesterday morning by a long and loud
fi reworks display outside their hotel
in Liverpool city centre. When the
bearpit, imploring its team on while
responding to any Chelsea touch
or adverse decision with a chorus
of boos. There were plenty of the
former. Lampard set up his team to
match Tuchel’s 3-4-3 formation but
in the knowledge that the visitors,
like Liverpool at Anfi eld last Sunday,
would dominate possession.
Chelsea completed 715 passes to
Everton’s 195. Jorginho and Ruben
Loftus-Cheek regularly passed
through midfi eld and yet, for all
the space and promising positions
that Mason Mount found, Pickford
was rarely troubled in the fi rst half.
Mount curled over from 20 yards and
Timo Werner was denied by a fi ne
recovery challenge from S éamus
Coleman after Loftus-Cheek had
broken through Everton’s lines but
the Chelsea threat was limited. Kai
Havertz spent most of the opening
45 minutes engaged in an off -the-ball
spat with Mina. Distractions served
Everton’s purpose as Chelsea began
to lose composure.
Anthony Gordon fed off the crowd
to tear at the visitors from the fi rst
whistle. Brought down in a dangerous
area by Loftus-Cheek, the 21-year-old
took the resulting free-kick himself
but, after blazing over, Everton did
not seriously threaten again until
the breakthrough.
The intent was there from Gordon,
Richarlison and Demarai Gray but not
the support of defensive-minded
Everton 1
Richarlison 46
Chelsea 0
Andy Hunter
Goodison Park
P W D L F A GD Pts
Southampton 35 9 13 13 41 58 -17 40
Burnley 34 7 13 14 31 46 -15 34
Leeds 34 8 10 16 38 72 -34 34
Everton 33 9 5 19 35 55 -20 32
Watford 34 6 4 24 32 69 -37 22
Norwich R 34 5 6 23 22 71 -49 21
Bottom of the table
Possession
Everton Chelsea
23% 77%
Shots on target
45
Total attempts
917
Everton team bus turned on to Goodi-
son Road 90 minutes before kick-off
it was met by thousands of fans who
had congregated with banners and
fl ares to welcome Lampard’s players.
The Holy Trinity statue of Harvey,
Alan Ball and Howard Kendall
vanished behind blue sulphur.
“If that doesn’t give you goose-
bumps you shouldn’t be playing the
game,” the Everton manager said.
The question was how those with the
greatest infl uence on the club’s Pre-
mier League status would respond.
As they had to was the answer.
Goodison Park was a brilliant
teammates to unsettle Thiago Silva or
Antonio R üdiger. Something had to
give for Everton to claim the goal they
desperately needed. It arrived in the
form of a gift from César Azpilicueta
rather than a change of approach
from Lampard.
Everton’s crucial moment
stemmed from a throw-in by Alex
Iwobi a minute after the restart.
Richarlison won it under pressure
from R üdiger only for Chelsea to
recover possession through Silva.
The veteran squared to his captain
who, seemingly unaware of Richar-
lison’s tireless running, took too long
over a clearance and was charged
down by the Brazilian. Suddenly
Everton were two-on-one on the
edge of Chelsea’s penalty area. Gray
touched the rebound back to Rich-
arlison and, just onside, he slipped
a measured shot beyond Édouard
Mendy into the far corner.
Goodison should have been cele-
brating the luxury of a second goal
minutes later. The opportunity
again came from an Iwobi throw on
the right. Gordon spun away from
his marker and found Abdoulaye
Doucour é breaking into the area.
The midfielder released Vitali y
Mykolenko on the left and the fi rst
goal of the Ukraine international’s
Everton career beckoned. He opted
for power and fi red wide.
A Chelsea response was inevitable
and Pickford performed heroics to