Considering how long Nicolas Jackson had waited to score a goal, there was no hesitation when he cocked back his right leg from 20 yards. It was in that moment that his striker’s instincts kicked in, and how he and Chelsea needed it.
Jackson had waited since December 15 to get on the scoresheet, going 13 games without a goal. His club had seen their Champions League chances fade in that time, with Cole Palmer likewise struggling to score.
Palmer took himself to 17 games without a goal here, but Jackson at least ended his drought. One out of two isn’t the worst, and it won Chelsea this match against a stubborn Everton side.
Enzo Maresca was not allowed to try to conduct a way through the visitors’ defensive wall from his technical area. He was serving a touchline suspension for this match after receiving three yellow cards and so chose to sit with us scribes in the press box.
Maresca squirmed as much as you can imagine in his seat towards the back, occasionally banging his head against the white brick wall behind him.
He was pleased with how Chelsea started. One move in particular was pleasing on the eye as Enzo Fernandez chested down Robert Sanchez’s long ball before passing inside into Marc Cucurella. He spread it wide to Pedro Neto, whose cross evaded Noni Madueke by an inch or two.
Nicolas Jackson scored his first goal since December 15 to help Chelsea beat Everton 1-0
Chelsea moved up to fourth place in the table, now one point behind Manchester City in third
Meanwhile, Everton remain 13th but could slip down to 17th if teams behind them win this week
James Tarkowski had been as reliable as an old shoe for Everton, forever available ever since signing from Burnley in 2022. But for the first time in the Premier League, he was sidelined for the visitors, a hamstring injury ending his remarkable run of 111 consecutive starts.
Chelsea tried to capitalise and Madueke forced Jordan Pickford into a strong save when Maresca was primed to celebrate. He had made a tactical tweak – using Madueke on the left wing and Neto on the right – and Chelsea had seen the better of the opening 20 minutes for it.
After 26 minutes, Cucurella’s scuffed shot nearly fell to Palmer for a tap-in. Chelsea insisted they should have had a corner and were annoyed when Christopher Kavanagh awarded a goal-kick to Everton. However, that turned into a blessing for the home side.
Only 16 seconds after that goal-kick had been taken, it was 1-0 as Pickford played a long pass into Beto. Trevoh Chalobah was on his back, pressing aggressively to win his tackle cleanly and cleverly. Fernandez picked up the ball and punched it into Jackson, who controlled, turned and let loose from 20 yards.
It was the first-ever time that Jackson had scored from outside of the box and you could feel the emotional release in his celebration, this being his first goal in 14 games, since December 15.
Neto was having one of his better games for Chelsea, his confidence high following on from his stoppage-time screamer at Fulham last weekend. After 48 minutes, his corner found his fellow winger Madueke, who could not beat Pickford at his near post.
In the 53rd minute, a back pass into Pickford was short. Jackson looked favourite to get to the ball first, but seemed to withdraw at the last millisecond, as Everton’s goalkeeper managed to nick possession in time to keep the visitors in this.
Jackson and Jarrad Branthwaite had a good old ding-dong from one throw-in as Kavanagh twice had to pause play to have a word. Chelsea have been linked with Branthwaite and the 6ft 5in central defender was showing his no-nonsense approach to taming strikers.
Enzo Maresca watched Saturday’s clash from the stands as he served a one-game suspension
Willy Caballero filled in for the Italian, who picked up his third yellow card this season last week
After 63 minutes arrived Everton’s best chance yet, when Beto unleashed a strike from a similar position to the one that Jackson scored from. Sanchez got down low to deny him the leveller. Chelsea’s goalkeeper likewise caught Idrissa Gueye’s snapshot.
This was only the fifth time that Romeo Lavia, Fernandez and Moises Caicedo had all started together for Chelsea. With Lavia not yet able to complete a full 90 as he builds back from his hamstring issue, Maresca replaced him with Reece James.
In the 74th minute, Madueke drove inside from the left, leaving two Everton players in his wake as he tried to find the far corner. Pickford’s fingertips denied him.
In the closing stages, Pickford was unable to keep hold of Cucurella’s crack from 25 yards. Jackson pounced on the rebound, but the offside flag denied him his second goal.
In the 87th minute, a remarkable reaction save from Sanchez kept Chelsea in the lead, denying Dwight McNeil despite his body initially moving into the other direction.
With that, Chelsea moved up to fourth ahead of the weekend’s other fixtures.
