Key events
7 min “I revisited some old Irish albums around St. Patrick’s Day, including several by The Pogues,” writes Peter Oh. “It occurred to me that this fixture is the ‘Blue Heaven’ of the Premier League.
“With apologies to the late songwriters Darryl Hunt and Phil Chevron, ‘In my blue heaven, the bells of Hill go ding-a-ling-a-ling!’.”
6 min After a patient Chelsea move, Caicedo throttles a long-range shot well wide.
5 mib Fofana’s straight pass into Lavia is read superbly by Garner, who nicks the ball and finds Dewsbury-Hall. He moves into the area but then hesitates for a split-second, unsure whether to shoot or try to give the ball back to Garner. That hesitation gives Caicedo just enough time to get back and make a vital tackle.
3 min A punchy, positive start from Everton, who are giving Chelsea no time on the ball.
1 min Peep peep! Chelsea, wearing their white change strip, kick off from left to right as we watch.
The Chelsea huddle. Do we have to? Urgh, okay. They did it, in the centre circle but not around the centre spot. No referees were compromised in the forming of said huddle.
It’s almost time for the kick off. Y’all ready for this?
Everton have a fine recent home record against Chelsea, albeit at Goodison Park rather than Hill Dickinson Stadium. They’ve won five of the last seven, including a stirring 3-1 victory under Duncan Ferguson in 2019.
The Premier League table at the start of play
Barney Ronay
Chelsea admitted making previously undeclared payments totalling just over £47.5m to unregistered entities and agents between 2011 and 2018. These appear to have been intended to smooth signings, including Eden Hazard, David Luiz, and Nemanja Matic, proper era-building players other clubs also wanted.
The verdict mentions deception and concealment. It recognises these offences attach to the club and don’t walk off with its previous officers. And yet a great deal is also made of Chelsea’s willingness to self-report. This seems naive. Of course the new people reported it. They will want to eventually sell this asset. This is clearing the decks. More to the point, the new owners had a £150m malfeasance fund built into the purchase price. Anything left over from this will be handed back to Roman Abramovich after five years. Why would you not report it? It’s a free hit.
Andy Hunter
David Moyes has called on the Premier League to provide a fuller explanation of why Chelsea were not deducted points for breaking financial rules under the ownership of Roman Abramovich.
Everton were deducted 10 points in November 2023, reduced to six on appeal, plus a further two points later that season for breaches of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). Nottingham Forest were deducted four points that season for a PSR breach. The Premier League had argued for a 12-point deduction for Everton over the first offence – a breach of £19.5m over a three-year period – and an eight point deduction for Forest.
The Premier League announced on Monday that Chelsea had received a record fine of £10.75m, a suspended transfer embargo and a nine-month academy transfer ban for engaging in “deception and concealment” when making illicit payments totalling £47.5m to sign players during a seven year period under Abramovich.
Team news
David Moyes makes one change to the Everton side that played well in defeat at the Emirates a week ago: Jake O’Brien replaces Tim Iroegbunam, with James Garner moving into midfield. Jarrod Branthwaite replaces Tyrique George, who is ineligible against his parent club, on the subs bench.
There are three changes for Chelsea. Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia come in for Trevor Chalobah, who is injured, Malang Sarr and Andrey Santos. It’s only Lavia’s second Premier League start this season.
Everton (4-2-3-1) Pickford; O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko; Garner, Gueye, McNeil, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndiaye; Beto.
Subs: Travers, Patterson, Barry, Dibling, Coleman, Branthwaite, Rohl, Iroegbunam, Armstrong.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1) Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Hato, Cucurella; Lavia, Caicedo; Palmer, Enzo, Pedro Neto; Joao Pedro.
Subs: Sharman-Lowe, Adarabioyo, Delap, Essugo, Santos, Sarr,
Acheampong, Estevao, Garnacho.
Referee Sam Barrott (West Yorkshire)
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Everton v Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Chelsea urgently need to get back on a horse, any horse: they’ve taken only five points from the last five Premier League games and were eviscerated by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Everton continue to overachieve quietly – as they have all season, as David Moyes has for most of his career – and are aiming to win back-to-back Premier League games at their new stadium for the first time. They’re already in contention for European football next season; if they win tonight, they’ll be in with a shout of a Champions League place.
Kick off 5.30pm.
