At 3:45 a.m. Beijing time on December 17, a match in the 17th round of the Premier League began to compete, with Chelsea facing Everton at home. Chelsea are among the favourites to win the Premier League, with 11 wins, three draws and two defeats in their first 16 league games. However, Chelsea's defence has been a bit of a problem lately, conceding goals in four consecutive games, including a 1-1 draw with Manchester United, a 2-1 win over Watford, a 2-3 loss to West Ham and a 3-2 win over Leeds United. As City soar, Chelsea need to avoid losing points so they don't get pulled apart. Chelsea are playing Everton this time. Everton were in poor form, losing half of the game. Last season, the two sides played each other over two legs. Today Chelsea failed to win, only to get a draw, only because of the opening of the hookers.
In this game Chelsea lined up in a 3421 formation. Mendy served as the starting goalkeeper. Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Rudiger are paired at 3 defenders. Rees James, Cheek, Jorginho and Marcos Alonso make up four midfielders. The attacking combination of Ziyech, Mount and Pulisic joined forces. The coronavirus outbreak in Chelsea has caused Lukaku, Hudson-Odoi, Werner and Chilwell to be absent. Everton suffered widespread injuries, with Lewin, Risalisson and Mina all sidelined with injuries.
Chelsea quickly went into attacking mode from the start, with Reece James, Mount and Pulisic making three threatening shots in five minutes, but none of them scored. Everton can only devote most of their energy to defence, but it is still difficult to prevent Chelsea from creating shooting opportunities. Mount had a great one-handed chance in the 35th minute, but was deflected by Pickford. At half-time, the score was still 0-0! Chelsea had 80% possession in the first half, 13 crazy shots on goal, 6 shots on target, and not even 1 goal, Pickford's performance was really outstanding. Everton had only a pitiful 2 shots on goal in the first half, 1 shot on target, and no goal.
Chelsea remained high-pressure in the second half, with neither Mount nor Azpilicueta scoring on goal. It wasn't until the 70th minute that Chelsea's attack finally paid off. Mount scored from close range and it was Reese James who delivered the assist. However, Chelsea did not last long, and after only 4 minutes, Branswaite equalized for Everton. The conceded goal was too much of a blow to Chelsea. Thiago Silva then had a chance to kill, but his header was once again deflected by Pickford. The final score was set at 1-1, with Chelsea drawing with Everton.
In this game, Chelsea shot 23 times on goal, 10 of them on target, and only scored 1 goal. Pickford made an incredible 9 saves, arguably fending off the chelsea squad on his own. In the post-match whoscored rating, Pickford also scored a game-high 8.4 points, which is well deserved. Facing Pickford in such good shape, Tuchel was too desperate, and his tactics were too strong to make Pickford surrender. Rees James, chelsea's best performer, delivered 1 assist and 3 shots without scoring, but delivered 6 key passes and scored 8.2 points.