Everton 0-2 Chelsea: The Toffees Collapse as Pedro Neto Dominates

The first-half of Everton vs Chelsea was a throwback to old-school football. 

Plenty of big tackles, high energy, little scuffles. The type of things that help boost an Everton crowd. 

Harrison Armstrong drew the biggest cheer of the opening 25 minutes as he flew into Josh Acheampong with a strong but fair challenge, which the referee somehow deemed a yellow card and a free-kick to Chelsea. 

From that moment on, Everton's game started, with the crowd being onside and more fiery moments coming off the back of it. 

Everton's best chance of the half fell to Thierno Barry. Jack Grealish produced a clever cross into the box to found Barry between two defenders, but his glancing header was straight down the throat of Emi Martinez. 

Chelsea came closest to opening the scoring, though, as Moises Caicedo's thunderous volley cannoned off the bar from a well-worked corner.

It was a half with very few clear-cut chances, and it felt like there were more big, fiery tackles than shots. Towards the end of the half, a thunderous 50/50 between Morgan Rogers and James Garner sparked some anger from both sets of players and fans. Rogers was already on a yellow card, but both players walked away with no punishment. 

After the break, it didn't take long for Chelsea to find the opener. Jorrel Hato burst down the left-hand side beyond both Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Merlin Rohl, and his cutback found Pedro Neto at the back post. 

The Portuguese forward fired towards the bottom corner, and Jordan Pickford couldn't do enough to keep it out. 

Chelsea gained more control after the goal went in, with Everton taking far too long to get out of the blocks. Xabi Alonso's side weren't creating too many opportunities, however, with Everton remaining resolute at the back. 

There was a big delay in the middle of the second half as Jarrad Branthwaite and Emi Martinez collided. It was Martinez who came off worse, and the Chelsea goalkeeper was stretchered off after what looked like a really nasty collision. 

Young goalkeeper Mike Penders came on for his Premier League debut, with 15 minutes of normal time remaining. Given the lengthy stoppage, there was always going to be plenty of added time at the end of the 90 minutes.

The lengthy delay took a lot of the sting and tempo out of the game, with Everton struggling to find a way back into it. 

With just five minutes of normal time remaining, the best chance of the second half came to Chelsea as Tyrique George left Christian Norgaard, who had only been on the pitch a matter of seconds, short, allowing Chelsea to have a 3 vs 1 situation. It resulted in a strike from Joao Pedro, but Pickford made a smart stop to deny him. 

Chelsea were able to double their lead as a free-kick from distance deflected into the path of Neto, and he was able to roll the ball into the back of the net with ease from inside the box. 

That was just before the officials announced that there would be 11 minutes of added time, but the Chelsea strike was sure to sink Everton.

With it being 0-0 at half-time, Everton had the opportunity to keep up the high energy of the first half and continue getting into the faces of Chelsea, making it difficult for them. Unfortunately, most of them were still in the dressing room from the half-time break as Neto fired Chelsea in front.

After that, Everton struggled to recover, and they showed next to no threat in the second half. 

With Everton chasing the game, David Moyes opted to bring on a clearly unfit Norgaard, who was nowhere near at the races. Hayden Hackney must have been scratching his head, with the former Middlesbrough man surely the ideal player for that game state. 

It was a thankless task for Barry up front, spending the whole game chasing lost causes and forced into aerial battles with three centre-backs. The lack of progression from deep into wide areas killed Everton, struggling to create overloads, failing to commit bodies forward.

Every attack after the break always felt like it would come to nothing, with Everton far too deep and conservative, not taking enough risks to put bodies into the final third. 

Moyes certainly made a statement with his team selection that showed he was a little scared of Chelsea, by deploying Rohl on the right-hand side of attack. It's understandable to be afraid of Chelsea's attack, but that's ignoring their defensive frailties. 

That was Chelsea's first away win of the season, and their first clean sheet away from home in the Premier League since December.