Live Blog

Fulltime - Everton win 2-0 in a truly Jekyll & Hyde performance, doing their best wilted spinach impression in the first half, and more like a coherent football team in the second.

90+5’ - Everton hold on to win, including another sensational save from Pickford, with the England #1 kicking away a diving Giroud header from a corner.

86’ - Sigurdsson goes off now, replaced by Tom Davies, who will have the sole intent of causing chaos in the middle for the visitors.

82’ - Good save from Pickford! Pushes it just over the bar after Hudson-Odoi gets his foot through the ball with intent.

78’ - Second sub for the Blues now, with Theo Walcott (of course, insert eyeroll emoji here) on for Bernard now.

73’ - Everton 2-0!!! WHAT WHAT WHAT?!
Richarlison brought down by Alonso in the box after a melee!
Sigurdsson steps up to take it, hits it low to the left.. Kepa saves! Rebound comes right back to Gylfi and he coolly slots it home the opposite side!!

65’ - Now Barkley gets the standing ovation round of boos as he leaves the pitch with Higuain, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Olivier Giroud are on now.
Gomes’ miserable afternoon ends, and Schneiderlin is indeed on now.

63’ - Barkley hobbling here, is that the same hamstring that saw his original transfer to Chelsea fall through?

61’ - Anton Rudiger now goes in the book, looked to have elbowed Bernard in the head. Freekick is wasted though.

60’ - Flying save from Pickford! Keeps Higuain’s fiery shot out!

59’ - Gomes goes in the book, poor tackle on Pedro,. He’s had a really bad day at the office, can expect Morgan Schneiderlin or even Tom Davies on for him soon.

50’ - OH MY WORD! Somehow, Everton lead!! The Blues have had a much better start to the second half and have grabbed the goal!

49’ - Everton are showing some endeavour here in the second half and looking good early. They look to have absorbed Chelsea’s sting and are now showing their own fangs.

Halftime - Somehow it’s still 0-0, despite Everton doing their best impression of a League Two side taking on a Premier League team. Of course, with one key difference, the lower league team would have more heart.

Premier League

41’ - Hazard hauled down just outside the box by Richarlison; Barkley takes the freekick and it’s blocked by the wall, and there’s the loudest cheer of the afternoon since the sirens before Z-Cars.

36’ - Marcos Alonso is the first to go in the book, dragging Richarlison down on his first good run of the afternoon.
Gylfi Sigurdsson swings in the freekick and DCL gets his head to it, but no control and it’s over. Some signs of life.

31’ - Chelsea again doing all the effective running in the attacking third, and Pedro shanks a shot wide when it would have been easier to hit the target.

26’ - Everton do have a pulse. Andre Gomes tests Kepa from distance with a low shot that the goalie spills then gathers.

24’ - DCL is just about the only player on the Toffees who is showing he has a pulse. Home side need to wake up, the Goodison faithful are getting quite irate.

22’ - Everton showing Chelsea way too much respect for playing at home. The visitors have all the time and space in the world to pick the Everton defence apart.

16’ - Everton’s first sustained possession in the opposite half ends up with Dominic Calvert-Lewin shooting over and wide. Came from a great interception by Lucas Digne.

11’ - Idrissa Gueye looks hurt and that is bad. He was pancaked by David Luiz and is back up after a couple of minutes of treatment, but he is hobbling.

7’ - Hazard hits Jordan Pickford’s left post. The Blues are yet to touch the ball it feels like as the visitors are dancing rings around the Blues.
Seconds later Gonzalo Higuain is through on goal and Yerry Mina slides in to deflect his shot, and Michael Keane clears. Terrible start for the home side.

1’ - Andre Gomes gets us started at Goodison! And there’s the boos for Barkley almost immediately.
The sirens did play before Z-Cars, but it seemed the timing was off, the effect was certainly not the same as in the Derby.

Lineups - Two changes to the Everton side as the Blues are in the same 4-2-3-1 formation. Chelsea are in a 4-3-3 with Ross Barkley starting.

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Everton will be looking to put behind the disappointing second half last weekend at Newcastle firmly behind them as they host Chelsea this weekend. The Blues’ last game at Goodison Park was the Merseyside Derby where the fans rocked the stadium and urged their side from the get-go, and Marco Silva will be hoping the fans can summon that spirit again as the Toffees look to register their first win against a top six side this season.

Chelsea’s season hasn’t gone quite according to plan following an excellent unbeaten streak in the earlier part of the season, and manager Maurizio Sarri will be looking to build on the big 5-0 midweek win away at Dynamo Kiev with an understrength side. The Stamford Bridge side are sitting in sixth place, but have a game in hand and a big win on Sunday could see them overhaul Arsenal for the crucial fourth spot and Champions League qualification.

Match Details

Competition:

Date and start time: Sunday, March 17th at 9:30 a.m. PT / 12:30 p.m ET / 5:30 p.m. BST

Stadium: Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom

Capacity: 39,572

Weather: 46°F/8°C, showers, 46% chance of precipitation, 20 mph winds

How to Watch/Listen

TV: NBCSN, Telemundo - United States; N/A - United Kingdom; RMC Sport 1, Flow Sports 2, DAZN, beIN Sports, SuperSport 3 Africa

Radio: evertontv, TalkSport Radio World, SiriusXM FC

Live stream: NBCSports.com, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo

Gamethread: Comments section below starting one hour before game time

Information from LiveSoccerTV.com

Lineups

Everton

Starting XI: Pickford, Coleman, Keane, Mina, Digne, Gueye, Gomes, Richarlison, Sigurðsson, Bernard, Calvert-Lewin

Subs: Stekelenburg, Baines, Schneiderlin, Davies, Walcott, Lookman, Tosun

Chelsea

Starting XI: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rüdiger, Luiz, Alonso, Jorginho, Kanté, Barkley, Pedro, Higuaín, Hazard

Subs: Caballero, Christensen, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi, Willian, Giroud

Last Meeting

After losses at Arsenal and Manchester United going toe-to-toe offensively, Marco Silva pared down his game plan to a more defensive format and was able to eke out a 0-0 draw away at Stamford Bridge. This game also marked Yerry Mina’s best performance in an Everton shirt so far, and he has done little else since that time (including an injury) to change the supporters’ minds.