It’s one Ell SIMMS POPS UP AT END TO HIT
ELLIS SIMMS’ last-gasp leveller put a dent in Chelsea’s late bid to squeeze into Europe.
The Blues were on the brink of a win that would have moved them to within two points of the Europa League places after goals from Joao Felix and a Kai Havertz penalty, either side of Abdoulaye Doucoure’s equaliser.
But substitute Simms, who was on loan at Sunderland until January and who had been on the field for less than nine minutes, brushed aside Kalidou Koulibaly in the last minute of normal time to earn the visitors a draw.
It was harsh on Chelsea, who
AB FAB: had dominated the ball and who, in truth, were the only side who really tried to win the game.
But struggling teams pick up points however they can and credit Sean Dyche’s men for hanging on long enough to give themselves a chance.
Chelsea came into the game with confidence, if not fully restored, then at least much higher than it had been until a couple of weeks ago.
They were looking here for their third successive Premier
League victory and fourth win on the spin in all competitions after beating Leeds, Borussia Dortmund and Leicester.
And they played the first half like a team free of pressure as they completely dominated Everton in terms of possession.
The stats made grim reading for the visitors with Chelsea enjoying the ball for threequarters of those first 45 minutes.
Although, truthfully, Everton rarely looked like conceding, some good defending combining with wastefulness from the home side when it came to the final pass.
Perhaps the best chance fell to
Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic but he volleyed wide when well placed.
And Enzo Fernandez, so impressive again in the middle of the park alongside Kovacic, might have tried harder to stay on his feet under a Dwight Mcneil challenge on the edge of the box, but he went down rather than carry on his run into space in the box and the resulting free-kick was wasted.
Everton were functional enough but couldn’t muster a shot on target.
In fact the only thing they hit in the first half was Christian Pulisic’s head, the American felled by Demarai Gray’s bullet free-kick