Palmergeddon for Everton!
Cole hits four to floor Toffees but win is tainted by bizarre Chelsea penalty row
EVERTON fans are accustomed to keeping a calculator close. In this season of deducted points and financial irregularities it comes in handy and, at Stamford Bridge, it helped them keep up with the score as Cole Palmer left their defence in tatters.
The Chelsea winger’s four goals lit up this game, completing a perfect hat-trick in 29 minutes and drawing him level with Erling Haaland as the Premier League’s top scorer with 20 goals. He has scored 11 in his last five home matches.
A near-perfect night for Mauricio Pochettino was marred, however, by an astonishing row between his players as Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke fought with Palmer over who should take the penalty that resulted in his fourth.
There was some debate over who had won it, as Palmer and then Madueke were both fouled in the box in the same passage of play. Madueke wanted to take it. So did Jackson, who had scored the fourth of the night, just before half-time. Then Palmer stepped forward and took the ball, supported by captain Conor Gallagher.
The home crowd booed as Jackson refused to retreat quietly. Even after Palmer had beaten Jordan Pickford from the spot, the centre forward had to be reminded by Madueke to go and congratulate the scorer. Something he did reluctantly.
Asked about the row afterwards, Palmer said: ‘Other players wanted to take it, but I am the penalty taker and I wanted to take it. I think we are showing everyone is wanting to take responsibility. It may be a bit over the top, but everyone wants to win — we are laughing and joking about it.’
Pochettino said: ‘It’s a shame. It’s a process for a young team who need to learn a lot. I was talking about this to the players after the game. It’s the last time I want to see something like this. I want to apologise to the fans.
‘We need to make clear next time that happens that they need to learn and be professional. We need to be focused on the collective. They knew it was Cole. Cole is the taker. It’s a clear example that it’s a process we still need to learn.’
Otherwise, this was a wonderful evening for Pochettino as his team closed in on the European places. He may also have stumbled upon his best attacking balance, although few teams will be as accommodating as Everton on their first outing since their second points penalty of the season. Injury was added to insult when Jarrad Branthwaite was forced off in the second half.
By then, they were four down and already well beaten. They face Nottingham Forest on Sunday and Sean Dyche will do well to patch up their confidence.
Everton’s Beto allowed the first chance of the match to skid away off his shin. Then Chelsea took the lead and never looked back.
Palmer started the move and finished it. First, with a cheeky nutmeg, through the legs of Branthwaite, then with a link up with Jackson, who supplied the return. Palmer beat Pickford effortlessly from the edge of the box with his left foot.
He almost scored again within a couple of minutes, unable to turn a Madueke cross into an open goal with his thigh. Instead, it bounced behind him.
Palmer would still extend the lead. He was alert, detecting the opportunity when Pickford parried Jackson’s shot, and was in the right place at the right time to nod the ball home. That was 2-0 and Everton’s promising start already seemed a long time ago.
Palmer started to roll through his party pieces, including a no-look volley in midfield, perhaps the flash of skill that prompted a full-blooded tackle by James Garner and earned him a yellow.
Chelsea’s playmaker appeared unshaken, though, and completed his hat-trick with another fine example of his intelligence.
It was Pickford’s error on the ball and a gift. Everton’s keeper collected a pass from Branthwaite and tried to thread a pass down the centre of the pitch to Amadou Onana. Palmer read it, moved across and clipped the ball back over Pickford into an open goal from 35 yards.
This one was with his right foot, to go with the left-footer and the header. It was a perfect hat-trick inside 16 minutes.
Pochettino, without Enzo Fernandez and Raheem Sterling among others, could not have hoped for a more comprehensive first half-hour.
Everton responded with a flurry. Beto found the net but had strayed a yard offside. Another ball flashed dangerously across the Chelsea goal. The hosts were certainly not secure at the back but were by no means as vulnerable as their visitors, who were four down by half-time.
Jackson scored the fourth, gathering a cross from Marc Cucurella and spinning to finish with his second touch.
Dyche made three changes at half-time but Palmer should have stretched the lead when released by Mykhailo Mudryk. Pickford saved. Then came the penalty and pathetic squabble. Followed by a standing ovation for Palmer and a first Chelsea goal for 20-year-old sub Alfie Gilchrist to make it 6-0.
Dyche said of his team’s capitulation: ‘Really poor. Miles off the intent and desire to win a match.’
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Petrovic 6; Gusto 6 (Gilchrist 88), Chalobah 6, Silva 6, Cucurella 6.5; Caicedo 7, Gallagher 6.5; Madueke 7 (Chukwuemeka 72), PALMER 9.5 (Casadei 80), Mudryk 7.5 (Chilwell 80); Jackson 7 (Deivid 88). Booked: Mudryk. Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 6.
EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Pickford 4.5; Coleman 4 (Patterson 46, Godfrey 90+2), Tarkowski 5, Branthwaite 5 (Keane 57), Mykolenko 5; Young 5, Garner 5 (Harrison 46), Onana 4 (Gomes 46), McNeil 5; Doucoure 5; Beto 4.5. Booked: Garner, Young, Tarkowski, Keane. Manager: Sean Dyche 5. Referee: Paul Tierney 6. Attendance: N/A.