Chelsea gets off the mark in the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Everton on an opening day at Goodison Park.
After Ben Chilwell was fouled in the penalty area during first-half stoppage time, Jorginho converted the ensuing penalty kick to score the game’s lone goal.
Even if there weren’t many opportunities, the visitors had the fortitude to hold out Everton’s limited attempts to strike an equalizer and clinch the three points.
Starting lineup:
EVERTON (3-4-3): Jordan Pickford; Yerry Mina, James Tarkowski, Ben Godfrey; Nathan Patterson, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Alex Iwobi, Vitalii Mykolenko; Demarai Gray, Anthony Gordon, Dwight McNeil.
EVERTON SUBS: Mason Holgate, Michael Keane, Allan, Asmir Begovic, Dele Alli, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Ruben Vinagre, Lewis Warrington, Stanley Mills.
CHELSEA (3-4-3): Edouard Mendy; Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly; Reece James, N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Ben Chilwell; Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling.
CHELSEA SUBS: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Mateo Kovacic, Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Trevoh Chalobah, Armando Broja, Hakim Ziyech, Conor Gallagher, Marc Cucurella.
Goal:
GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!! JORGINHO CONVERTS! 1-0 CHELSEA!!!! The Italy international faces off against Pickford from the spot, but unlike his effort from the Euro 2020 final, he finds the bottom-left corner with a clean strike. A perfect penalty to send the keeper the wrong way.
What does it mean? Blues make another strong start
Tuchel repeatedly cut a frustrated figure throughout Chelsea’s less-than-ideal pre-season campaign.
Still, the Blues, often strong starters, produced a professional performance to win their Premier League opener.
Chelsea has started 20 of their 31 Premier League campaigns with a win (drawn six, lost five).
While Everton has suffered their first opening-day defeat since going down to Queens Park Rangers in 2011.
So, what’s next?
Everton is next in action on the road to Aston Villa next Saturday in the Premier League. Chelsea host Tottenham in their first home match of the term next Sunday.
