Soccer / chelsea vs everton

Chelsea would kick themselves hard following their 1-1 draw against Everton at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night as they lost focus just moments after taking the lead. Masom Mount gave the hosts the lead in the 70th minute, but they were pegged back barely four minutes later by Jarrad Branthwaite's first ever Premier League goal. Thomas Tuchel was without Romelu Lukaku, Calum Hudson-Odoi and Timo Werner, who had all tested positive for Covid-19. His counterpart also had mounting injury worries as Richarlison and Andros Townsend were out with injuries, with Demarai Gray and Fabian Delph also unavailable. The home side started on the front foot and harrased their visitors' post early on. Reece James from a Jorginho throughball fired wide of goal, before Mason Mount also saw his shot across goal go off target. Chelsea went closer with three quick chances. Christian Pulisic's backheel from a Hakim Ziyech cross was well held by Jordan Pickford. The Moroccan himself forced Pickford to a save from a tight angle, before James saw his free kick headed for the top corner punched away by the England number one. Mason Mount was also denied by his England compatriot in a space of 10 minutes on either side of the half. His first effort was saved by the legs of Pickford, before the goalkeeper got a strong hand to his deflected shot in the 51st minute. The deadlock was finally broken with 20 minutes left to play as Mount was at the end of a Chelsea counterattack after Everton went in search of a goal of their own. James slid in Mount on the right and although his first touch was poor, he managed to fire it past Pickford to give his team the lead. Chelsea's lead didn't last long as they were pegged back from a setpiece four minutes later. A cross whipped in by Anthony Gordon from the left to the far post was met by an unmarked Branthwaite, who stuck out his leg to poke home and restore parity. Tuchel's side were denied what looked like a winning goal late on when Thiago Silva freed himself to head down a corner from Ziyech, but Pickford was up to it as he saved to earn his team a point. Concluding Thoughts A bad day Chelsea had at the office as they were unable to make their dominant play result to a win. This was a game Chelsea would have won on a good day, given the way they started and went about it. It was obvious that they were the better side. They just lacked that touch of creativity to open up Everton in the final third. They are blessed to have a talent like Mason Mount. He was all over the place and was at the heart of almost anything good that happened to Chelsea on the night. Eventually, grabbing a goal was well deserved for him. Playing without a recognized striker, having had Lukaku and Werner out also looked to have hindered the Blues. Yes, they coped in the earlier weeks when the duo were out injured, however, having most of your goals scored by your defenders like they had back then could only take you as far. Everton have not been in their best of forms recently and they'd heartily take that one point. The fact that Chelsea were unable to crack them open until the 70th minute meant they grew in confidence and even believed they could win the game. They have had three matches on a bounce, which many would have thought would hurt them, but they have responded well and could pat themselves on the the back. Defeated Arsenal, coming from a goal down; lost to an outstanding Manchester City and earned a draw with Chelsea. Four points from these nine doesn't look a bad one. Nonetheless, they still have a lot of work to do to help their campaign.