That’s me done. Thanks for your emails and tweets tonight. Here’s Jacob’s report. Until next time!
Everton manager Sean Dyche is the last to speak:
Ugly night. Every mistake seemed to get punished. We got after them in the first few minutes. Collectively, we were miles off them. Two young players in midfield, two good players [Garner and Onana}, learning their football, but we have to get tackles in and break up the play.
Palmer has been playing well all season. We can’t give Chelsea chances like this. Defensively we’ve been solid, it’s unusual. Going forward, they are all nervous games. We’ve got to pay the supporters back and get on with business.
Pochettino is the next to speak. He is asked about the penalty squabble between Jackson, Madueke and Palmer. The Chelsea manager seems genuinely upset that this win has been marred by a small incident.
It’s a shame. We cannot behave in this way. I told them [the players] this is the last time I accept this type of behaviour. We have to learn a lot if we want to be a great team, fighting for things. We have to think in a collective way. Cole Palmer is the taker. If he wants to give the ball to another … [shrugs] … but not in this way.
I think Poch speaks really well in this second paragraph below. It’s interesting that even after a win like this, he is still laying down a challenge for this squad to be better.
We’ve dropped too many points, against Sheffield United and Burnley. Maybe if we had four more points, we could fight for the Champions League. I hope today people can see that this process needs time. We are not a solid team that is going to complete. We still need time. We have to be consistent in the whole season. We have to learn and to learn quick.
James Tarkowski speaks:
It’s the most embarrassed I have felt as part of a team as a footballer. We underperformed. It shows where we are at the moment. We’ve got to brush ourselves down, we’ve got a big few weeks ahead of us.
They were levels above us. It wasn’t technical, it was losing tackles, people getting run off. I’ve had dark times but we’ve got to make sure we win the next game.
Everton face 17th-placed Nottingham Forest at home on Sunday. They now have exactly the same goal difference. A mammoth bottom-of-the-table clash at Goodison Park.
Amazing that Chelsea have just won 6-0 and most of the discourse is about the penalty squabble.
9/9 - Cole Palmer has converted all nine penalties he has taken in the Premier League with only Yaya Touré (11/11) posting a better 100% conversion rate from the spot in the competition's history. Designated. pic.twitter.com/M73gdncrZf
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 15, 2024
Cole Palmer is the penalty taker ffs
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) April 15, 2024
Mad Scenes 😂😂😂
Cole Palmer speaks:
It all happened so fast. To score a hat-trick, the team needed that after last Sunday (against Sheffield United). The first goal was my favourite, the right footed one was a bit of a swinger.
Other people wanted to take the penalty, which is understandable. It was nothing major, though. Everyone wants to take responsibility. We ended up laughing and joking about it but the manager has spoken to us about it now.
Alfie Gilchrist also faces the cameras:
I just smashed it as hard as I could. Every time I’ve been here as a fan, I’ve looked up to the screen. To see myself there is a dream for me and my family.
Palmer can keep going and going. Every day, he is the best player in training.
Updated
This is what the result does to the rest of the table. If Chelsea win their game in hand, they will leapfrog Manchester United and go seventh. And will be just goal difference away from overtaking Newcastle in sixth. That said, their next four matches are Manchester City (away), Arsenal (away), Aston Villa (away), Tottenham (home).
For Everton, they remain 16th after this defeat, which has also severely dented their goal difference. They are now -16, and level with Nottingham Forest, which could be crucial. Who knows what is going to happen with Everton’s appeal?
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 32 | 44 | 73 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 32 | 49 | 71 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 32 | 41 | 71 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 33 | 19 | 63 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 32 | 16 | 60 |
| 6 | Newcastle | 32 | 17 | 50 |
| 7 | Man Utd | 32 | -1 | 50 |
| 8 | West Ham | 33 | -6 | 48 |
| 9 | Chelsea | 31 | 9 | 47 |
| 10 | Brighton | 32 | 2 | 44 |
| 11 | Wolverhampton | 32 | -5 | 43 |
| 12 | Fulham | 33 | -2 | 42 |
| 13 | AFC Bournemouth | 32 | -10 | 42 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 32 | -17 | 33 |
| 15 | Brentford | 33 | -11 | 32 |
| 16 | Everton | 32 | -16 | 27 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 33 | -16 | 26 |
| 18 | Luton | 33 | -24 | 25 |
| 19 | Burnley | 33 | -35 | 20 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 32 | -54 | 16 |
Jacob Steinberg's match report from Stamford Bridge
“Imagine being Pep/Man City and giving away potentially the Player Of The Season, and still winning the double treble?” emails John Potter.
Sigh.
The worst defeat of Sean Dyche’s managerial career. Utterly miserable stuff from Everton, who had the chance to take the lead through Beto after 10 minutes but were second best in every other area after that.
A perfect hat-trick from Cole Palmer. I love his demeanour almost as much as his football. Somehow both unassuming and nonchalant.
One Step Beyond blares out around Stamford Bridge. And Freed From Desire, but let’s not mention that.
Updated
Full-time: Chelsea 6-0 Everton
Four goals for Cole Palmer. FOUR. What a win for the home side.
90+6 min: Chance for Everton. Beto finds a pocket of space but can only fire straight at Petrovic.
90+3 min: Gilchrist looks knackered after that celebration, but keeps the ball nicely as he zooms up the line away from Harrison. He’s been with the club since he was 11, leaving QPR at that age, and is from a family of big Chelsea fans. Last season, he was captain of the Under-21s and this feels like a breakthrough season for the 20-year-old.
More injury misery for Everton, by the way. Patterson, only on at half-time has had to go off, replaced by Godfrey.
GOAL! Chelsea 6-0 Everton (Gilchrist 90+1)
Gilchrist’s first ever goal for Chelsea, and the youngster celebrates like he’s just scored the winning goal in the FA Cup final, sprinting towards the Chelsea fans in the corner with all the enthusiasm of Brian Butterfield at a buffet. “He’s one of our own”, sing the Chelsea fans. What a moment for the young lad.
Updated
90 min: Seven minutes added on.
88 min: Further Chelsea subs: Gilchrist comes on for Gusto and Nicolas Jackson is withdrawn for Deivid Washington, who is surely the first person to be nicknamed Dave at Chelsea since César Azpilicueta.
85 min: Chelsea, weakened by their substitutions, are happy to let Everton have the ball. Everton apparently don’t know what to do with it. They haven’t created any chance of note in the last 10 minutes or so.
82 min: This was the penalty squabbling, by the way. Apologies to our readers abroad who might be unable to view this.
😳😳😳 pic.twitter.com/qCP4uALalE
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 15, 2024
“That pre-penalty incident was deeply embarrassing,” emails Peter Crosby. “As you mentioned, not the first time and I totally agree with you that both Jackson and Madueke should both have been taken off immediately and disciplined. As it is, they stay on and when he’s eventually taken off Madueke gets a hug from Poch! Surely a clear a sign as ever that indiscipline runs through the heart of this chelsea team, and could go some way to explaining their league position. This result notwithstanding, Poch needs to take a grip of this team.”
Certainly Pochettino taking off Jackson and Madueke straight away would have sent a message. The squabbling is not part of a winning mentality. It just two players trying to inflate their personal stats.
79 min: Chelsea make a double change: Chilwell and Casadei replace Palmer and Mudryk. There’s a standing ovation for Palmer. Four goals tonight means that he’s now joint top of the Premier League scoring charts. He now has 20 goals, tied with former teammate Erling Haaland.
A absolutely ridiculous performance.
77 min: Everton have had a decent few minutes, keeping the ball, Beto has even had a shot! Oooooof!
73 min: “Palmer is on 29 goal involvements in 27 matches on a mid-table squad that has at times struggled horrifically. He’s now tied with the best striker in the world Haaland for the golden boot. Saka (22 involvements in 30 matches) and Foden (21 involvements in 30 matches) are just not producing as much on the scoresheet with much better teams around them. Why are they considered near-automatic starters over Palmer?”
There’s two points to be made here. Firstly, a big thing for Southgate is trust, based upon previous performances in an England shirt. He trusts Pickford, he trusts Maguire. They will almost certainly start for England, despite statistical evidence to look elsewhere. He trusts Saka, Foden. Palmer hasn’t done anything of note in an England shirt. Yet.
Secondly, Palmer’s best position is in the No 10. Having license to roam, to create. And he’s up against Jude Bellingham. I’m not sure if you’ve watched the Real Madrid man this season, but he’s having a decent time of it. Palmer is not a better right winger than Saka, he’s not a better No 10 than Bellingham, he’s not a better left winger than Foden, he’s not a better striker than Kane. Maybe that will change in the future, but that’s where we are.
71 min: Madueke goes down, gets up gingerly. And despite signalling to the bench that he is OK, the winger is replaced by Chukwuemeka. Madueke is not delighted about it, but reluctantly trots off.
69 min: Has since been confirmed that referee Paul Tierney gave the penalty for the challenge on Palmer, not the one on Madueke. So does that mean that Palmer gets the assist and the goal?
66 min: A late, nasty slide tackle from Keane on Jackson, who has been in the wars tonight. Yet another reason for Pochettino to hook him. Yellow card for Keane. Would not be surprise to see an Everton red card tonight.
65 min: There was some pre-penalty squabbling over who was going to take it. Completely baffling, with the team 4-0 up. Madueke and Jackson were both arguing, trying to grab the ball off each other. Both scowled and walked off in a huff when Palmer muscled in, and captain Gallagher gave the ball to the former Manchester City man. Palmer is the penalty taker! We had an incident like this earlier in the season with Raheem Sterling. If I were Pochettino, I would take off Jackson and Madueke for insubordination!
Updated
GOAL! Chelsea 5-0 Everton (Palmer pen 64)
Pickford goes to his right, and Palmer rolls it in the opposite corner.
Updated
PENALTY TO CHELSEA!
61 min: Tarkowski upends Madueke in the area and Paul Tierney points to the spot! Replays show it was actually a fair challenge, although in the seconds leading up to that, Palmer was also tripped by Doucouré. There was definitely at least one penalty in there.
59 min: So nearly another Chelsea goal! More atrocious keeping from Pickford, who punches a Gusto cross into Jackson. The ball ricochets off the Chelsea striker, onto Patterson, and just wide!
58 min: Branthwaite has picked up an injury and is going to have to come off. A miserable night for the talented defender. Michael Keane comes on in his place. That’s four substitutions already for Everton.
56 min: So nearly a fourth goal for Palmer and a fifth for Chelsea! When Mudryk is good, he is very, very good. And when he is bad, he is horrid. But the Ukrainian shows his quality here, showing Patterson a clean set of heels to break into open space, before laying on a brilliant through ball to Palmer. The hat-trick hero takes a first-time shot on his left foot, but the advancing Pickford saves with his legs. The first good thing say I can about the Everton goalkeeper this evening.
54 min: “Complete neutral here, enjoying the Cole Palmer show, although it’s 25 mins to 2am where I am,” emails Mani Deep. “England really have an embarrassment of riches at the moment, with players like Rice, Saka, Palmer, Foden, Bellingham, Watkins, Solanke, Kane (who may not make it) all in rare form. Who do England play? Who misses out? If they don’t win the Euros with this group of players they probably will never win an international trophy.”
52 min: Tarkowski is the next Everton player in the book for a wild and cynical trip on Jackson right in front of the dugouts. That’s a sore one for the Senegalese, who is back to his feet.
49 min: Everton have started the stronger, which is a turn up for the books. Gomes in particular has brought some composure on the ball, spreading the play and then showing some neat footwork to win Everton a corner (from which Branthwaite heads wide).
47 min: “Palmer is quite the dark horse”, emails Kevin Wilson. “A few months ago, Foden/Saka were probably nailed on for the wide positions, with Bellingham as the advanced central midfielder behind Kane. Palmer could do a great job there too, but playing Bellingham deeper alongside Rice wouldn’t be as effective. Now, Foden has never really performed in an England shirt, so maybe Palmer’s an outside bet on the left?”
Palmer could be in the odd position of being in the Premier League Team of the Season and not in the England XI at the Euros. I don’t think he will start ahead of Foden or Saka in England’s wide areas. He’s not starting ahead of Kane or Bellingham. Southgate would be a fool not to play the Real Madrid man in his best position at the point of England’s midfield. But what an option Palmer is on the bench. Southgate is not at Stamford Bridge tonight but former Chelsea coach Steve Holland, now Southgate’s assistant, is watching from the stands.
Peeeeeeep! We’re off again at Stamford Bridge. Three changes for Everton, which is not surprising. Nathan Patterson, Jack Harrison and Andre Gomes come on for captain Seamus Coleman, James Garner and Amadou Onana.
Anyone could see that Coleman and Young was a recipe for disaster on Everton’s right. Two of Chelsea’s four goals have come from Chelsea getting to the byline on their left flank. Young is still on but on a yellow card.
Half-time reading:
Half-time: Chelsea 4-0 Everton
This has been the Cole Palmer show. David Bowen points out on email that Palmer’s hat-trick is a perfect one: left foot, header, right foot.
45+4 min: Corner to Everton. That early Beto chance aside, set pieces seem the only threat for this one-dimensional team.
You have to feel for the Everton fans in the away end. Monday night in London and a long trip home to come.
45+2 min: Should say that is 10 league goals for Jackson. He’s not going to win Chelsea the league anytime soon, but I think there’s a place for him in Chelsea’s squad next season.
45 min: Five minutes added on here.
GOAL! Chelsea 4-0 Everton (Jackson 44)
A wonderful goal! If it wasn’t game over before, it surely is now. Cucurella swings in a hopeful cross. Jackson is surrounded by defenders, tightly marked by Branthwaite and also with Tarkowski for company. But the striker kills the cross stone dead and swivels expertly, volleying his shot off the near post and in! A brilliant goal from Chelsea’s point of view, but that is so soft defensively. Sean Dyche, a former centre back, will be fuming.
Updated
43 min: Everton earn a couple of corners and two crosses cause havoc in the Chelsea box. The home side just about clear it away.
41 min: Coleman picks the pocket of Mudryk, and the Ukrainian fouls the Irishman as he tries to win the ball back. Another yellow card.
39 min: After my pre-match build up, I can confirm that Branthwaite has had a stinker so far. Jackson turns the defender and races past Englishman before tumbling inside the area. No penalty.
“I can’t tell you how depressing it is to see a brilliant young talent in Branthwaite and realise we have to sell him because of our financial situation, emails Mary Waltz. “But I guess that is the fate of any Everton fan these days.”
As a Blackburn fan myself, there are some very mixed feelings watching local lad Adam Wharton playing so well for Palace. We had to sell him (for £18m) but it still hurts.
37 min: Another yellow card for Everton, with Young catching Gallagher with a trip after a nifty turn from the Chelsea midfielder.
EVERTON GOAL DISALLOWED!
35 min: Everton have the ball in the net, but the goal is chalked off for offside. Young crosses for Beto, who rises highest and plants a beautiful header past Petrovic’s right hand, but replays show the the Portuguese is a yard or two off when the cross comes in. He really should have looked along the line.
33 min: Onana gets a Mudryk arms to the face and needs a minute of treatment.
31 min: That was a 17-minute hat-trick. A good stat below here from Opta, Palmer beating the six-match run from Drogba and Gudjohnsen.
7 - Cole Palmer has become the first ever Chelsea player to score in seven successive Premier League appearances at Stamford Bridge. Beauty. pic.twitter.com/sV69NujC5h
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 15, 2024
Updated
GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 Everton (Palmer 29)
A hat-trick for Palmer inside half an hour! Pickford, acting a sweeper, completely misjudges a pass into midfield and suddenly the Everton goalkeeper is completely stranded! Palmer collects the ball, takes a touch, and floats an inch-perfect lob with his weaker right foot into the empty net. An absolute gift, but didn’t Palmer take it well. Wow.
Updated
28 min: Garner, who is chasing shadows in Everton’s midfield, picks up a yellow card for a late challenge on Palmer.
26 min: Jackson tries his luck from 25 yards after some sloppy play from Garner, but the Senegalese blasts high and wide. Not really his forte, long-range strikes, but I’ve been mostly impressed by Jackson when I’ve watched him this season.
24 min: I wonder if Gareth Southgate is here tonight. What else would the England manager be doing on a Monday night with two months until the Euros. From Palmer to Gallagher to Branthwaite to Pickford, plenty of English talent on show, although the Everton goalkeeper has had a nervy evening thus far.
22 min: Based upon Chelsea’s recent performances and results against 10-man Burnley and almost relegated Sheffield United, this game is not over yet.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Everton (Palmer 18)
Oh my. After a bright start, Everton have completely fallen apart. Gallagher chases down a lost cause, wins the ball. The balls finds Mudryk, who races to the byline, cuts the ball back to Jackson. The striker’s header is palmed out by Pickford, and Palmer is there to mop up the rebound, heading into an empty net! So easy! It was a really poor bit of goalkeeping actually, Pickford could only divert the ball into a really dangerous area, where Palmer was waiting.
Updated
17 min: Everton are all over the shop.
15 min: Chelsea so nearly double their lead. The Blues hit Everton on the counter attack. Mudryk and Madueke exchange passes, the latter crossing from the byline. Palmer is completely free in the middle but gets slight in front of the cross, and can’t hook it in from only a couple of yards wide. It was an awkward height, the cross but on a second watch, it seems silly that Palmer didn’t just knee it in.
GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Everton (Palmer 13)
Palmer punishes Everton with a sensational solo goal, his 20th of the season – the first player to reach that landmark since Eden Hazard in 2018-19. Palmer picks the ball up in a pocket of space outside Everton’s area, nutmegs Branthwaite with consummate ease, backheels a flick to Jackson, gets the ball back and bends a left-footed curler past Pickford from 20 yards!
A penny for Beto’s thoughts!
Updated
An unbelievable miss from Beto!
10 min: Awful miss from Beto! Oh my word, Everton should be ahead! Coleman overlaps Young and gets to the byline completely free. The Irishman takes a touch, looks up and fizzes a low cross across the six-yard box. Beto is there, onside, but the Portuguese can only shin it over the bar from three yards out! It came at the striker quickly but Beto really should have put that away.
7 min: Madueke has started really nicely on Chelsea’s right flank. Twice he has had the beating of Mykolenko. The winger has had a frustrating campaign so far, this is the first time he has started back-to-back games under Pochettino. Madueke scored a great goal at Sheffield United, there’s definitely a player in there.
5 min: Both keepers are nearly caught out by underhit backpasses but Petrovic and Pickford survive.
“That Everton away kit is such an eyesore that it warrants a severe style-points deduction”, quips Peter Oh.
3 min: It will not shock you to read that Everton have lumped a free kick to the back post, where Tarkowski is waiting, but Chelsea franticly clear away the knock down.
1 min: A nasty one for Gallagher, who get the full weight of Onana (and his studs) on the top of his right foot in the game’s opening moments.
Updated
Peeeeeeeep! And we’re off at the Bridge.
The teams are out! Chelsea in the royal blue, Everton in their gross fluorescent away kit that is somewhere between pink and orange. Eurgh.
This is genuinely heartwarming.
"What a player, oh my goodness! So happy to see you!" 😊
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 15, 2024
Poch 🤝 Dele pic.twitter.com/JpvhUr9eJa
Speaking of pace, look at that Everton right flank: Seamus Coleman and Ashley Young, combined age 73. Great players in their day, but perhaps not the best duo to face Mykhailo Mudryk.
“Must be an attempt to bore that whippersnapper Mudryk to sleep with stories about the old days of pre-VAR football”, emails Edan Tal.
I can’t tell you how excited I am about Jarrad Branthwaite. What a brilliant young defender he is, and I really hope he makes the England squad this summer, even if I suspect he won’t make Southgate’s starting XI (although he should IMO).
The suitors will be hovering this summer, regardless of whether Everton survive or not. Manchester United have been linked with an £80m bid, which is not the first time in recent years they have spent that sum on a big English centre back. But Branthwaite is a more complete player than Harry Maguire, even at 21 years old, and has that magic quality: pace.
Both sides are depleted, it’s that stage of the season. But Chelsea’s bench looks particularly inexperienced. Everton will fancy their chances tonight, despite manager Sean Dyche just admitting that they will be without Calvert-Lewin and Gana Gueye tonight:
Dom’s got a tight hamstring, nothing more, so we’re happy in the sense that we think it will recover quickly. It was a tight call. We also lost Gana this morning who woke up with a tight calf.
The teams!
Your Monday night Blues. 🗞️💙@ParimatchUK | #CFC | #CheEve pic.twitter.com/LGqlWBGKit
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 15, 2024
Tonight's Toffees. 🔵#CHEEVE pic.twitter.com/idT6FIBdjI
— Everton (@Everton) April 15, 2024
Very intrigued and heartened to see Everton midfielder Dele Alli making his punditry debut on Monday Night Football. The England international, still just 28, has had a rough ride in recent times, overcoming a sleeping pill addiction and speaking openly about his traumatic childhood. Last year he revealed he was sexually abused at the age of six and selling drugs aged eight.
Since signing for Everton on a free transfer in January 2022, injuries and other issues have restricted Alli to just 13 Premier League appearances. As part of that deal from Spurs, Everton were due to pay Tottenham £10m if Alli made 20 Premier League appearances. Tonight is significant because, with seven games to go and Alli in a Sky studio rather than Everton’s squad tonight, it is now impossible that the midfielder will make it to 20 appearances, thus saving Everton a fee that they really can’t afford right now.
Alli’s Everton contract expires in the summer, I really hope he finds another club and gets back to his best. He’s no stranger to the Football League from his MK Dons days, I’m sure there will be clubs out there that are interested. Or maybe even a move abroad.
Preamble
What an enormous game this is for Everton Football Club. The Toffees sit two points above the relegation zone but face a two-point deduction for for breaching Premier League profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), which essentially means, for a number of different reasons, they are walking on extremely thin ice. Fellow strugglers Brentford and Palace won at the weekend, which probably means that Everton are one of four teams battling to avoid the final two relegation spots.
Tonight’s game at Stamford Bridge comes after the news that Everton’s appeal against their latest points deduction will be heard before the end of the season in an attempt to bring some clarity to any final-day relegation battle.
Chelsea have not beaten Everton at the Bridge since 2021, the year they became champions of Europe for a second time. Doesn’t that feel like a lifetime ago? There is a lot less at stake for Chelsea tonight, although European qualification is not out of reach. Chelsea are six points behind sixth-placed Newcastle with two games in hand. This Chelsea squad is not ready for the Champions League but a Europa League spot would do very nicely indeed. That said, Chelsea’s next four games are: Manchester City (away), Arsenal (away), Aston Villa (away), Tottenham (home). Eeeesh.
This should be a lively one. I’m expecting goals. Plenty of talent on the pitch, but neither side are mad about defending.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 32 | 44 | 73 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 32 | 49 | 71 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 32 | 41 | 71 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 33 | 19 | 63 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 32 | 16 | 60 |
| 6 | Newcastle | 32 | 17 | 50 |
| 7 | Man Utd | 32 | -1 | 50 |
| 8 | West Ham | 33 | -6 | 48 |
| 9 | Chelsea | 30 | 3 | 44 |
| 10 | Brighton | 32 | 2 | 44 |
| 11 | Wolverhampton | 32 | -5 | 43 |
| 12 | Fulham | 33 | -2 | 42 |
| 13 | AFC Bournemouth | 32 | -10 | 42 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 32 | -17 | 33 |
| 15 | Brentford | 33 | -11 | 32 |
| 16 | Everton | 31 | -10 | 27 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 33 | -16 | 26 |
| 18 | Luton | 33 | -24 | 25 |
| 19 | Burnley | 33 | -35 | 20 |
| 20 | Sheff Utd | 32 | -54 | 16 |
Updated
