Everton get the blues as Spanish duo fires Chelsea
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ENGLISH Premier League champion Chelsea eased past a disappointing Everton with goals from Spaniards Cesc Fabregas and Alvaro Morata sealing a 2-0 victory yesterday.
What looked a tricky fixture on paper against Ronald Koeman’s team turned into a stroll for Antonio Conte’s side which has recovered well from a shock opening-day defeat by Burnley.
Morata’s clever header set up Fabregas to give Chelsea the lead in the 27th minute, the former Arsenal player sliding the ball past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford with a deft finish.
Everton offered very little and Chelsea doubled its advantage five minutes before the break when Morata rose to head home Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross for his second goal for his new club since signing from Real Madrid.
It proved a frustrating afternoon for Everton’s Wayne Rooney who wasted one chance and was shown a yellow card while Gylfi Sigurdsson, making his first EPL start for Everton, was given little chance to shine.
Chelsea ‘keeper Thibaut Courtois was a virtual spectator and the hosts should have won by a clearer margin with Victor Moses and Pedro both guilty of squandering decent chances.
“We must be pleased with the performance. We played a really good game. We dominated and had plenty of chances,” Conte said. “The only negative thing is we should be more clinical.”
Chelsea moved into fifth spot with six points while Everton, which has now gone 23 matches without a win at Stamford Bridge, has four.
In the day’s other early game, substitute Peter Crouch took advantage of a terrible defensive mix-up to earn Stoke City a 1-1 at West Bromwich Albion.
The 36-year-old Crouch was gifted the easiest of chances in the 77th when defender Ahmed Hegazi seemed to fail to heed a call from Ben Foster and sliced his clearance almost out of his goalkeeper’s hands.
It was a comical way for the home side to concede its first league goal of the season, and one which had not looked like coming as the Baggies kept their opponents at arm’s length, with Gareth Barry typically effective in his holding midfield role.
Jay Rodriguez’s first league goal for West Brom had earlier looked like maintaining its 100 percent start to the season, after the offseason signing from Southampton headed home in the 61st.
On Saturday, Manchester United stayed patient to beat Leicester City 2-0 and move two points clear at the top while Manchester City rallies to a last-gasp 2-1 victory over Bournemouth.
Huddersfield Town was held 0-0 by Southampton but stayed unbeaten and Newcastle United earned its first points of the season with a 3-0 victory over West Ham United that left the London side bottom of the table.
Crystal Palace is also without a point after losing 0-2 at home to Swansea City but Brighton and Hove Albion are off the mark following a 0-0 draw at 10-man Watford.
United was frustrated by Leicester and Romelu Lukaku had a penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel before substitutes Marcus Rashford and Marouane Fellani scored in the last 20 minutes to seal its third straight win.
City was stunned on the south coast when Charlie Daniels gave Bournemouth the lead with an unstoppable left-foot drive from an improbable angle.
The visitors, who left Sergio Aguero on the bench and gave a debut to 52-million pound (US$67 million) signing Benjamin Mendy and a first start to Bernardo Silva, equalized before halftime when Gabriel Jesus poked home from David Silva’s fine pass.
It looked like being a frustrating afternoon for City, however, before, in the seventh minute of stoppage time, Sterling’s deflected shot floated past keeper Asmir Begovic to seal a 2-1 win.
Sterling celebrated in front of the ecstatic City fans and was engulfed as several spilled on to the edge of the pitch, forcing stewards and police to intervene and leading to referee Mike Dean showing the England forward a second yellow card.
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