Live Blog

Fulltime Thoughts - Everton were better in the second half especially before the second goal and then after too, doing well to keep Chelsea to the outside and not giving up the dangerous crosses like in the first half.
Injuries will be a concern for the Blues who already have a number of players out and now add Digne and Walcott, and possibly Holgate and Richarlison to that list as well. Not good.

Premier League

Big Dunc walking to every corner of this hallowed ground and clapping the fans. He is elated, and should be. What a boost this is, for a club that is in such turmoil.

90+6’ - There’s the whistle! Everton win!! Solid, solid effort from the boys, buoyed on by Duncan Ferguson who has been up and down that touchline from the start to the end. COYB!

90+5’ - Everton look exhausted, they have given everything today. This is the effort we’ve been asking for all this time.

90+2’ - Everton just playing keep-away now, stroking the ball around in their own half.

90’ - Chelsea still pressing, but the fight has been knocked out of them at this point. The ref has somehow found six minutes of time to added on. Hmm.

86’ - Injuries are going to be a problem for the Blues going forward. Holgate has been hobbling for some time, and now Walcott is injured too, leaves for Bernard.

84’ - Kepa with the fatal error!! Tries to pass out from the back, terrible pass to Kante and Walcott cuts in, sets up Davies who tries to dribble home, tackled and the rebound falls to DCL who taps home! 3-1!!

80’ - Everton vacate the midfield as Chelsea switch play quickly and Christensen lines up a shot from about 35 yards out, not far wide either.
Mount gets off a snapshot from eight yards out and Holgate blocks, then Azpi fires the rebound and Pickford taps it over. Pressure mounting.
Digne is down now and it will be Baines coming on.
Chelsea switch to a back three now with Reece James going off, Michy Batshuayi is on. Callum Hudson-Odoi had already come on for Willian a few minutes ago.

77’ - Everton have been better about holding up the ball in the middle and up front in the second half.

73’ - Digne looks to have picked up a groin strain, and Leighton Baines is now warming up. This will be the veteran leftback’s first appearance if he does come on. Digne has been getting beaten for pace, Baines can’t be worse.. right??

70’ - Davies on now for Richarlison, and almost makes an immediate impact. A great cross in from the left and the youngster gets his head to it, but doesn’t make great contact.

69’ - DCL goes sliding in on Azpi and goes into the book as well, rightly so.
Sidibe has to resort to a foul as Chelsea look to counter from an Everton freekick.

64’ - Kante with a diagonal run behind the backline, and sets up Mount for great chance, but he hits it well-wide. That’s the play that got the Blues in trouble against Liverpool again and again.
Ferguson’s got to be thinking about a sub or two at this point, some energy in the middle, Tom Davies maybe?

62’ - Iwobi concedes a freekick down Everton’s left. Azpilicueta’s header actually clears it for the Blues. Walcott looks to launch another counter against Kante, but the midfielder defends well.
Chelsea scythe through the soft Everton middle and Kovacic blasts a shot but this one is over and wide.

59’ - Walcott launches a counter, beats Kante and is through on goal, no one to cross to and he tries to beat Kepa at the near post but it’s a good save. Another half chance blown.

57’ - Sidibe’s pressure wins the ball in the opposing box and he tries to setup DCL but he’s foiled. Damn, really need to take these chances.

53’ - Chelsea hit right back, the Blues clear their lines but Kovacic with a laser-guided shot from distance beats Pickford, 2-1 now.

Two-goal lead, worst lead in football, have to say.

49’ - Everton start the second half stronger, and DCL scores!! 2-0 now!
The ball was up in the air and Zouma made a right hash of clearing it, and DCL stole it and slotted past Kepa.

47’ - Second half underway, and Sigurdsson gets a freekick from distance into the box.. DCL gets to it first but his header is well over.

Couldn’t put it better than the pundits in the NBCSN studio just did.

Halftime Thoughts - After the first 15 minutes this looked a bit like a return to the Sam Allardyce & David Moyes days of hoofing the ball long and trying to do something from there. The Sigurdsson-Schneiderlin midfield have been warm bodies defending, but have done little to hold the ball or create anything going forward.

Premier League

45+2’ - There’s the halftime whistle, and so far effort has overcome the very basic nature of football the Blues have played. 1-0 at the break, but the visitors have looked stronger as the game has gone on and Ferguson has his first managerial challenge to address.

45’ - Two minutes of time added on, and Walcott wins the Blues first corner of the half.
Digne with an inswinger, Kurt Zouma clears.

42’ - Everton amping up the energy sliding into tackles, and Richarlison is late for one and goes in the book. Blues trying to finish the half strong, but it’s all Chelsea right now.
Freekick pinged into the box but cleared away.

41’ - The visitors are now focusing on their left, and Sidibe is getting beaten regularly with dangerous balls coming into the box on that side, but so far Mason Holgate has stood strong on that side.

39’ - Everton finally get to the opposing half to create a chance, but Walcott fails to control the ball and it runs away from him.

34’ - Chelsea starting to control the ball and find spaces out wide, and an excellent cross from Mount fizzes along the six yard box, no one gets a touch on it.
The initial adrenaline is starting to wear off and the tired Everton legs are showing. Chelsea now dominating play and getting the effective possession they need to create chances.

30’ - Digne with a clumsy takedown of Willian in the Chelsea half, and he goes in the book. First caution of the game.

28’ - Everton’s high press forces another misplayed pass out the back from Chelsea but the visitors can recover. Chelsea quadrupling Everton’s number of passes so far.

27’ - Willian beats Lucas Digne for pace down the wing, his cross is perfect and Abraham only gets a faint touch on it, ball flashes across the goal with it gaping. Whew.

25’ - Richarlison down, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Had gotten kicked by Mount a few minutes ago, holding his ankle. Back on now.
Chelsea’s third corner comes to nothing.

23’ - That’s halfway through the first half, Everton comfortable so far. Their game has been predicated on getting vertical as quickly as possible, lots of effort and running around, hassling the Chelsea ball-carriers and closing down space.

19’ - Oh my word Michael Keane. Continues his abysmal form with a howler in his own box, giving the ball away and the Blues are very lucky to not concede from that.

17’ - Another long goalkick finds Theo Walcott who sets DCL free down the right and his quick shot from a narrow angle is parried away by Kepa.
The early goal and intensity from the players definitely has the ‘bear pit’ atmosphere going with the fans right behind the team, like Ferguson asked yesterday.

15’ - Alex Iwobi concedes the first corner of the game, cleared away with no issues.

10’ - As the NBCSN commentators note, Everton are harrying Chelsea on the ball, snapping into tackles, like the dogs of war. This is exactly the Ferguson effect the fans were hoping to see.

8’ - None of this playing out from the back for Big Dunc, Jordan Pickford has been hoofing the goalkicks straight up the pitch.
Wears his heart on his sleeve that Ferguson.

5’ - Duncan Ferguson’s Everton playing like when Duncan Ferguson played himself! Dominic Calvert-Lewin & Richarlison combine to free Djibril Sidibe loose on the right, his cross is excellent and Richarlison is on hand in the box to head home in the corner! 1-0 Toffees!!

3’ - Looks like a 4-4-2 so far. with a midfield of Iwobi, Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson and Walcott from left to right.

1’ - A round of head tennis to get us started. Everton in their home blues, Chelsea wearing some atrocious black and orange combination.

Huge round of applause as Duncan Ferguson is introduced as today’s manager.

So the lineups are out, and looks like Silva is still around. Well, maybe worse. A static midfield of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Morgan Schneiderlin? Yerry Mina out injured, no centrehalves and three strikers on the bench? Yikes, hard to see a positive result coming out of this.

Preview

Pretty much no one knows what to expect. On one hand, maybe Duncan Ferguson can step in and instill some confidence and positivity in this Everton team that seems paralyzed by fear and can’t get out of their own way. On the other hand, the problems with this squad, injuries aside, likely run deeper than Marco Silva’s tactical deficiencies and an in-form Chelsea side will steamroll the Toffees.

However, under Silva bad continued to get worse for the Blues and it had become a matter of when he was getting sacked, not if. Where Everton go from here no one quite knows, but for now like Ferguson said we’ll just take one game at a time.

Match Details

Competition: Premier League Matchday 16

Date and start time: Saturday, December 7th at 4:30 a.m. PT / 7:30 a.m ET / 12:30 p.m. BST

Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 39,572

Weather: 49°F/9°C, mostly cloudy, 6% chance of precipitation, 10 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: NBCSN, Telemundo - United States; BT Sport 1, BT Sport Ultimate - United Kingdom; DAZN - Canada, beIN Sports HD 2 & 11, SuperSport 3 Africa, RMC Sport 1, Canal+ Sport 2 Afrique

Radio: evertontv, TalkSport Radio World, TalkSport Radio UK, SiriusXM FC, BBC Radio 5 Live

Live stream: NBC Sports App, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo, BT Sport Live, ESPN Play Sur, beIN SPORTS CONNECT, DStv Now, RUSH

Gamethread: Live blog above starting one hour before game time

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Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Lineups

Everton

Chelsea

Last Meeting

The last time these two sides met at Goodison Park Everton were in the beginnings of a terrific streak where they were sweeping top six teams aside left and right. The Toffees swept the Stamford Bridge team aside 2-0 on that day with Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson getting the goals.

Chelsea had had the better start, with Eden Hazard unplayable in the early going. However Everton grew into the game and took the lead early in the second half against their fifth-placed opponents when Richarlison was on hand to head home the rebound after Kepa had denied DCL from a corner.

The Brazilian then went down in the box somewhat easily with twenty minutes to go, and Sigurdsson stepped up to take the penalty only to see it saved by Kepa, but the rebound came right back to him and he slotted it back in.