Chelsea vs Everton LIVE: Nicolas Jackson’s goal earns vital three points for Blues
Chelsea 1-0 Everton: Enzo Maresca’s men move up to fourth in the table
Chelsea earned a vital three points in the race for Europe after defeating Everton 1-0 in a close encounter at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues, who are aiming to secure a place in the Champions League next year, moved up to fourth in the Premier League table following Nicolas Jackson’s sweeping strike in the first half.
Enzo Maresca’s men were the controlling side, especially in the first half, and forced a couple of decent saves out of Jordan Pickford who was on form yet again for the Toffees. Jackson’s effort, scored from range with a finely directed strike that hit the inside of the far post, defeated the Everton goalkeeper and was a difference maker in the end.
Everton fought back folowing attacking changes from David Moyes but Robert Sanchez made two crucial stops to deny Beto and Dwight McNeil.
Relive the updates from Stamford Bridge below:
Chelsea line-up to face Everton
Chelsea XI: Sanchez; Caicedo, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Lavia, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson
American billionaire joins Everton’s ownership group with hope of new investment
The American billionaire Christopher Sarofim has joined Everton’s ownership group as they look to bring in more investors.
Sarofim, chairman of the global investment manager Fayez Sarofim & Co, will be Board Observer at Everton after becoming part of Roundhouse Capital Holdings Limited.
New owners The Friedkin Group bought Everton from Farhad Moshiri via Roundhouse, an entity within TFG, and will continue to run the club.
American billionaire joins Everton’s ownership group with hope of new investment
Moyes on avoiding relegation with Everton
"When I came in I was really worried,” David Moyes revealed about Everton possibly getting relegated this season.
He added: “This could go to the last game, I was saying to the players. We shouldn't be celebrating survival.
"They have done remarkably well in the games. They have done a brilliant job.
“The games that we have had have been tough, but we expected them to be tough."
Who will replace Tarkowski?
David Moyes will choose who to replace James Tarkowski with in the centre of Everton’s defence with the likely options being either Jake O’Brien or Michael Keane.
"Jake is a centre-half so I'm not worried about doing it, that's for sure. It's just trying to get the right balance for the team,” said Moyes.
“He's done a brilliant job at full-back so it 's just weighing up whether we want to make one or two changes in position.
“We've got Michael Keane so we have options and we'll look to play those options to see what works best.”
Tarkowski missing for Everton
David Moyes confirmed that James Tarkowski will miss today’s match against Chelsea through injury.
The manager revealed: "Tarky's out, he's going to be out for the rest of the season. He'll have an operation on his hamstring.
“It's a big blow for us because Tarky has played such a huge part of what we've done and how we've done so well in this period.
“I think he'll be back [for pre-season] but it could eat into that.”
Enzo Maresca insists Chelsea’s season is an improvement and ‘not a failure’
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said his first season in charge has not been a failure and suggested critics have chosen not to acknowledge the progress made by his team.
Sunday’s dramatic 2-1 win against Fulham gave a timely boost in the race to qualify for the Champions League but supporters were made to sweat at Craven Cottage, their side trailing 1-0 for much of the west London derby before Tyrique George and Pedro Neto’s late goals snatched victory.
Enzo Maresca insists Chelsea’s season is an improvement and ‘not a failure’
Lavia fit to feature versus Everton
Romeo Lavia is fit to feature against Everton today after making the bench for Chelsea’s match against Fulham last time out.
Enzo Maresca added: “Romeo is doing well - he was on the bench against Fulham.
“Also, he was on the bench in other games recently. He’s back, he’s training with us.
“With Romeo, we will try the same things that we are doing with Reece James. It is important that we use them carefully, going step by step and taking things slowly.
“Reece is doing well, he is playing two games every few days now and is holding up well across games in the Conference League and the Premier League. We will try to do the same with Romeo.”
Maresca provides injury updates
Chelsea boss, Enzo Maresca, gave an update on the injuries within his squad .
“Malo [Gusto] is injured but it does not look like an important injury,” said the head coach.
“He is running and doing things outside, but he won't be available for tomorrow’s game.
“Outside of that, Marc Guiu is still out, Aaron Anselmino is still out but the rest are still fit. Hopefully Marc can be back in one or two weeks.”
'Palmer is a little bit worried'
Cole Palmer is ‘a little bit worried’ about his downturn in form claims Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca but that is because the prolific attacker wants to help the team perform.
“For sure it’s a mental thing, it’s not tactical or technical,” said Maresca.
“Cole is still the player who scored 14 goals in 20 games. The style is the same, the manager is the same, the club is the same. Nothing has changed around Cole. It’s just mentally in this moment.
“You can see he’s a little bit worried because he wants to help the team. You can see he’s struggling a bit on that. But he showed how happy he was after Fulham. It’s just a matter (whether) we can win games. For sure he’s going to score goals.
“If you go back game by game, he had at least every game one or two chances, so it’s not about how the team is playing.”
Enzo Maresca knows reason behind Cole Palmer’s struggles
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca blamed a “mental thing” for Cole Palmer’s goal drought and insisted the England forward is happy at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer last scored on January 14 in a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth having previously netted 14 times this season in the Premier League, including four in the first half against Brighton in September.
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