Everton 0-1 Chelsea: Player ratings as Jorginho penalty sinks Toffees

A spirited Everton side fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to Chelsea on the opening Saturday of the Premier League season.

A boisterous Goodison Park crowd at kick-off was quelled by the lengthy medical treatment Ben Godfrey required ten minutes into the match. The Everton centre-back flew into a challenge on Kai Havertz with such force he injured himself, leaving the pitch on a stretcher.

Chelsea enjoyed a monopoly of possession but struggled to eke out open play openings of note. The Blues were often able to pick out a teammate between the lines of Everton’s 5-4-1, but the recipient of that pass invariably lost possession as a new-look forward line spluttered through its first competitive outing.

With plenty of space for a strikerless front three of their own to run into, the Toffees threatened in transition, forcing both Thiago Silva and Kalidou Koulibaly into multiple last-ditch blocks and interceptions.

Deep into first-half stoppage time, Ben Chilwell posed a different question for the Everton rearguard for once, sneaking into the box with an underlapping run which lured Abdoulaye Doucoure into a clumsy grapple. Jorginho – minus his customary hop – converted the spot kick.

Chelsea’s unease in the lead was underlined by the repeated time-wasting warnings referee Craig Pawson gave them with just an hour on the clock.

As the match ticked into its final ten minutes, substitute Marc Cucurella found a rare patch of space in Everton’s half, firing a ball across the box which Raheem Sterling met, only to see Vitaliy Mykolenko block with a flying lunge – much to the forward’s astonishment.

Thomas Tuchel’s side ultimately squeezed out all three points but could only convert a penalty against an Everton defence which had two of its starting back-three forcibly replaced through injury by the end.