Everton v Chelsea: Premier League – live!

Peep peep! Everton lead through an insouciant penalty from Gylfi Sigurdsson, awarded after Edouard Mendy flattened the swashbuckling Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Chelsea have had almost 70 per cent of the possession, and Jordan Pickford did brilliantly to push Reece James’ deflected shot onto the post, but Everton’s defending has been admirably resilient.

45+2 min Iwobi’s low cross is screwed wide by Sigurdsson, in front of the near post. Kante has been booked for a late tackle on Allan just before that.

44 min Reece James has been a constant threat down the right. He finds Kovacic, whose cross is headed away well by Keane. Everton need half-time; it’s all Chelsea.

41 min Pickford is down after colliding with Mina, who was pushed into him by Mount. I don’t think the referee gave a foul; Mount should probably have been booked.

40 min: Chance for Richarlison! Everton almost make it 2-0 on the break. Sigurdsson angles a first-time pass to put Richarlison through in the inside-left channel. He moves to the edge of the area and hits a low left-footed shot that is pushed away by the falling Mendy. I think Richarlison slipped as he took the shot; either way, it wasn’t the greatest effort.

39 min Chelsea don’t have as many attacking options as usual on the bench. Tammy Abraham and the teenager Faustino Anjorin are the main ones.

37 min Kovacic’s low cross towards Werner is shinned over his own bar by Holgate. The referee gives a goalkick.

36 min James’ deep cross is just too high for Werner at the far post.

34 min Now Pickford has injured himself. He slipped before booting a backpass from Godfrey down the field, and now he’s holding his left side. It looks like he’s going to continue.

33 min There’s a break in play while Yerry Mina receives treatment. Fair play, I’d forgotten he was on the pitch.

32 min Everton break from a Chelsea free-kick, but Keane overhits his long pass to Calvert-Lewin. That was a chance because there was nobody within 10 yards of Calvert-Lewin.

29 min Reece James is lucky not to be booked for a poor tackle on Godfrey.

28 min Another chance for Chelsea! Havertz’s deep free-kick is headed down by Giroud to Zouna, whose snapshot from eight yards is straight at Pickford.

26 min: James hits the post! The resulting corner is headed away to the edge of the area, where James runs round the ball and hits a deflected shot that is pushed onto the inside of the post by Pickford! That’s a brilliant save. It was a barely perceptible touch, a rare moment of unobtrusive excellence from the oft maligned Pickford. The ball spun all the way across goal and out for a corner on the other side.

25 min James’ long-range free-kick is pushed away by the diving Pickford. A comfortable enough save, though it was a good strike.

24 min Richarlison is booked for a foul on Reece James. He may have injured himself in the process as well.

Sigurdsson scores with rare nonchalance! He sat Mendy down and passed the ball slowly in the other direction.

Calvert-Lewin headed Pickford’s long kick into the penalty area, chased it himself and knocked the ball round Mendy, who was committed and took him out.

18 min Mendy lands awkwardly after coming over Reece James to claim Sigurdsson’s free-kick. There’s a break in play while he receives treatment.

17 min “Kante is scary good,” says Mary Waltz. “Sheesh.”

This season is the best I’ve seen him play since Chelsea last won the title. If he stays fit, they could win the league again; if not, no chance.

16 min Crikey, Chelsea have had 78 per cent of the possession. I didn’t realise they were that dominant.

15 min Nothing much to report. Chelsea are dominating possession; Everton have defended well so far.

12 min James fires a good low cross into Werner, who tries to make space for the shot but is crowded out.

9 min Mina heads a corner over the bar. He was under plenty of pressure, so it wasn’t much more than a quarter chance.

8 min The 2,000 supporters are making a decent noise, especially when there’s a 50/50. The atmosphere at this game last season, when Everton won 3-1 under the temporary management of Duncan Ferguson, was spectacular.

6 min A half chance for Everton. Richarlison plays a nice give-and-go with Sigurdsson, only to hit a tame shot straight at Mendy from 12 yards.

5 min Chelsea have made a confident start, and look like a team that are unbeaten in 17 matches.

2 min Godfrey makes an excellent block tackle on James, who was in the act of shooting after a reverse pass from Havertz. It wasn’t a great pass from Havertz, in truth, and that gave Godfrey enough of a chance to make the block.

“It’s not a must-win situation for Everton but it is a must-compete,” says Mary Waltz. “I don’t know if they can win without James but they have to show their owner that all the cash he is splashing is not going to waste. COYB.”

“Four centre-backs and, without the energy of Seamus Coleman and the killer passes of James Rodriguez and Lucas Digne, the only change of pace in the side comes from Richarlison’s runs,” weeps Gary Naylor. “Everton will have to make the set pieces count tonight, or we might hear what 2000 people whistling sounds like.”

The Manchester derby ended 0-0, and it was a bit of a stinker.

James Rodriguez is out with a calf injury for Everton, while Chelsea are without the injured trio of Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi. Everton may play a back three, with Ben Godfrey and Alex Iwobi as wing-backs, though I think Carlo Ancelotti might return to a back four.

Everton (possible 4-2-3-1) Pickford; Holgate, Mina, Keane, Godfrey; Doucoure, Allan; Iwobi, Sigurdsson, Richarlison; Calvert-Lewin.
Substitutes: Olsen, Kenny, Gomes, Davies, Tosun, Bernard, Gordon.

Chelsea (possible 4-3-3) Mendy; James, Zouma, Thiago, Chilwell; Kovacic, Kante, Mount; Havertz, Giroud, Werner.
Substitutes: Kepa, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Jorginho, Gilmour, Anjorin, Abraham.

Referee Jon Moss.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Everton v Chelsea from Goodison Park. It’s still too early to say whether Chelsea are serious title contenders, but a win here would put them top of the Premier League overnight and there are literally 19 worse places to be.

They will be strongish favourites against a Everton side that has lost their way since winning the first seven games of the season in all competitions. At that stage they were being talked about as outsiders in the title race; one win in the last seven has seen to that. And yet, if Everton win tonight they will move within two points of Chelsea.

In short, nobody knows anything, not in 2020-21. But it’ll be fun finding out.

Kick off 8pm.