Cole Palmer scores four as Chelsea stun abject Everton

Cole Palmer’s four goals at Stamford Bridge included three in the first 30 minutes – Getty Images/Marc Atkins

Pep Guardiola used to call Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur side the ‘Harry Kane team’ and the Argentine now has the ‘Cole Palmer team’ at Chelsea.

But some of the shine was taken off Palmer’s four-goal show by a pathetic pushing match involving Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke over a second-half penalty.

The spot-kick was eventually taken and scored by Palmer, and it is unthinkable to consider where ninth-placed Chelsea would be this season without him and his 20 Premier League goals.

Thanks to four goals against Everton, which included an incredible perfect hat-trick, Palmer is now the League’s joint top scorer with Erling Haaland. He could yet fire FA Cup semi-finalists Chelsea to European qualification and an unlikely trophy.

Palmer’s league goals tally has matched his squad number: 20 – Getty Images/Darren Walsh

With little breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone, Everton must hope their appeal against a second points deduction of the season proves to be successful. On this evidence, they cannot be relied on to pull themselves out of trouble on the pitch.

Signed in a deal worth £40 million, plus £2.5 million in add-ons, Palmer must already be worth more than the hotels Chelsea sold back to themselves for £75 million.

His perfect hat-trick, with his left foot, head and right foot, came within half-an-hour against Everton and meant he became the first Chelsea player to score in seven successive Premier League home games.

It was also his second successive treble at Stamford Bridge after Palmer had dramatically won Chelsea the game against Manchester United.

Pochettino has already coached his fair share of young stars and he knows he’s got one in the form of 21-year-old Palmer, who will look to show his former club Manchester City exactly what they are missing in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

England assistant-manager Steve Holland was at Stamford Bridge on Monday night and he and Gareth Southgate are going to find it difficult to leave Palmer out of their squad for the European Championships.

Palmer will no doubt think he should have had four goals inside the opening half-an-hour, as he actually missed his easiest chance of the first half. But the three goals he did score in the opening 45 minutes had a bit of everything.

The first, in the 13th minute, came after Palmer had nutmegged Jarrad Branthwaite and swapped passes with Jackson. There was still a lot to do to beat England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, but the Chelsea midfielder curled a brilliant left-foot shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Palmer seemed certain to get his second minutes later, when Madueke crossed from the left, but this time he got in front of the ball and it hit him on the back and rebounded away from danger rather than into the net.

Nobody was quite sure how Palmer had missed, but he made no mistake in the 18th minute, when he doubled his tally and Chelsea’s advantage.

Conor Gallagher did brilliantly to keep the ball alive and it was eventually worked to Jackson, whose shot was saved by Pickford and Palmer was alert to head the rebound into the net.

With over 70 minutes of the game remaining, it seemed a certainty that Palmer would complete his hat-trick and he did so shortly before the 30-minute mark – thanks in part to a terrible mistake from Pickford.

Palmer certainly does not need any favours to get on the scoresheet right now, but he got one when Pickford passed the ball into his path when trying to find Amadou Onana.

Pickford immediately raced back towards his own goal, but Palmer lobbed a beautiful right-foot shot from around 35 yards over the goalkeeper and into the net.

Jordan Pickford was red faced after his error – Getty Images/Alex Pantling

It was an incredible way to complete a hat-trick and left Everton and manager Sean Dyche completely stunned after the visitors had made a decent start.

Branthwaite won a header from an early free-kick that caused brief panic, while Beto skied a Seamus Coleman cross over the bar and had his blushes saved by an offside flag.

Beto also had a header correctly ruled out for offside after Chelsea had taken a three-goal lead, but it got even worse for Dyche and his team before the half-time whistle.

Palmer was involved again, as Jackson deservedly got on the scoresheet. It was from Palmer’s pass that Marc Cucurella crossed from the left and Jackson controlled the ball and scored on the turn.

Having heard his team booed off by the visiting fans at half-time, Dyche unsurprisingly made three changes at the break – sending on Nathan Patterson, Andre Gomes and Jack Harrison.

There was a further blow for Dyche, when Branthwaite had to be replaced by Michael Keane and Palmer netted his fourth and Chelsea’s fifth with just under half-an-hour remaining.

But the goal from the penalty spot only came after a ridiculous row involving Madueke, who thought he had won the spot-kick, and Jackson. The pair ended up shoving each other before the ball was eventually given to Palmer, who was also pushed by Jackson before scoring.

An unsightly scuffle marred Chelsea’s fifth goal – AFP/Glyn Kirk

There was a frosty exchange between Jackson and Pochettino when the striker was taken off at the end, before substitute Alfie Gilchrist scored Chelsea’s sixth of the night with his first goal for the club.

Palmer scores four as Chelsea thrash Everton: As it happened

10:50 PM BST

Dele Ali

feature on Sky Sports.

“Karl Robinson never used to come to the indoor futsal training session at MK Dons but he did one day and I was one of four that was selected to train with the first team. My biggest challenge was not getting beat up by my teammates. It was tough love. They were teaching me.”

Good anecdote about how he had a mixture of confidence and a little bit of arrogance around the senior players.

“I always expected to be a professional, I thought so much of myself in a good way. I didn’t get scared. I wanted the ball. I wanted to entertain people. If you don’t believe it yourself you are never going to be the best. Like I am sure Palmer believes he is the best player in that team, he should take the penalties. You might not say it out loud. If people know who you are off the pitch it’s okay. Everyone is different when they cross the white line. As long as that didn’t flood into your personal life, your personality then I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.”

“I went to meet Brendon Rodgers in 2014 when I was at MK. The conversation went well. I felt at that time I was ready to take the next step, the way they were playing would have suited me. The reason I went to Tottenham was the manager. I felt I was ready but it didn’t happen for whatever reason.”

“I signed for Spurs as an attacking 8 but my strengths were perfect for the 10 with the players we had at that time. I’d played wing, 8, striker at MK so it gave me understanding of where players should be.”

“At PL level the players are on your wavelength. With Harry and Sonny it wasn’t really something we worked on it was something we naturally grew together, we understood.

“I think my best goals were on instinct. I grew up playing park football, entertaining, nutmegs. As well as being professional I tried to have fun.”

[In 2016, four games left, Spurs were chasing Leicester] “I got banned for punching a guy in West Brom game. Stupidity. Showing my age. I got banned and missed the Chelsea game. I tought Poch was going to Hammer me. He called me into his office and then he showed me a clip of him getting sent off and we had a laugh about it.”

“We were the best team at the time. We had Moussa, the best player I have played with. Harry. Erikssen. Lloris in goal. We went everywhere and never changed our game, we would try and dominate everyone. We felt we just needed one more player to push us on.”

10:49 PM BST

Dele

“This is the most honest bunch of players I have worked with and it will hurt them more than anyone. But you cannot cry about it.”

10:43 PM BST

Dyche

“Ugly night. Collectively a down night. Perfect storm, every mistake seemed to get punished. We got on the front foot, made it uncomfortable and had a great early chance.

“Collectively we were miles off. Got some young midfielders earning their spurs but you have to make tackles. The first part of our press was good but the second was miles off.

“Yes we have taken a knock, does that bleed into the players? Maybe.

“We can’t give Chelsea chances like this. Defensively we’ve been solid, it’s unusual. Going forward, they are all nervous games. We’ve got to pay the supporters back and get back to business. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

“Professional. That’s what it says on your passport. Professional footballer. Everyone wants the cars and the glitz lifestyle. Now the professional bit kicks in and we have to make sure we do everything we can.”

10:41 PM BST

Dele on Poch

“He will be really disappointed about the penalty. He cares so much about you as a person. For them to show that kind of thing. It is kind of selfish from the players. If you’re not the penalty taker then you don’t take the ball. They’ll learn from it, they are young.”

Carragher: “Interesting how angry and upset MP was. I was surprised. Sends a strong message to the players.”

10:35 PM BST

Pochettino on Sky

“When we signed Palmer we knew he was a great talent. He is doing really well. He is a fantastic player, the way he has adapted his game to the team is amazing. So happy for him.

“Today, happy with the performance.”

[the penalty argument?] “A shame. I told the players, we had a meeting with all the staff. We cannot behave in this way. I told them this is the last time I accept this sort of behaviour. They were all involved in this type of situation. All out. Next time. Not a joke. It shows we are in a process where we have to learn a lot. Like a team. If we want to be a great team we need to change and think in a collective way, not individual achievements. I make it clear that Palmer is the taker. It is sad that this happened and I am not going to accept this happening again.”

Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson of Chelsea clash – Getty Images Europe

10:30 PM BST

Tarkowski

How do you explain what went wrong? “Oof. It would be a long debrief that. The most embarrassed I have felt as an individual and as part of a team in my time as a footballer, which is a long time. I can only apologise to the fans who spend their hard earned money travelling to follow. It is all on the players, you cannot blame the manager or the staff, they give us everything we need to go out and perform. Tonight we didn’t. No excuses. Nowhere near the level we expect.

“Chelsea looked like they were levels above us. Not the goals, but the tackling, the running. Hopefully the fans stick by us.”

10:24 PM BST

Aflie Gilchrist and Cole Palmer

Do the post match interviews.

Palmer: “all happened so fast, the first 30 minutes. Buzzing for hat-trick. Team needed that after Sunday. Everyone was buzzing for [Gilchrist], he has been a Chelsea fan all his life.”

Gilchrist: “Saw an opportunity and smashed it. Everyone time I have been here as a fan, you look up and see the replay, and to see myself up there is a dream come true.”

Palmer: “Other players wanted to take the penalty, which is understandable. But I am the penalty taker. So I took it. It shows everyone wants to take responsibility. Maybe the argument was a bit over the top. Everyone wants to win, help .Nothing major. The gaffer’s told us now.”

Gilchrist: “We have spoken about it and brushed it aside now.”

10:15 PM BST

Carragher and Dele on the penalty argument

“That was daft. Come on lads. Pochettino is going to get asked about this, on the best night of the season.”

Dele: “For me, this is them showing their age. In that last big game, when it was last minute and the pressure was on, I didn’t see them all fighting to take it then. It’s alright when it’s four-nil and you want to get on the score sheet. If you want to get on the scoresheet don’t try that at 4-0 in an unpressurised situation.”

Have you experienced that before, asks Jones.

Dele: “No, it is settled before the game. It is a shame because they had a great night and people will be talking about this. I am sure Pochettino will speak to them about it.”

10:10 PM BST

Reaction to follow

Jamie Carragher: “Palmer has been brilliant all season and the others raised their game to join him tonight. For Everton, a team who don’t score many but pride themselves on being hard to beat, to concede six is shocking.”

10:00 PM BST

Full time: Chelsea 6 Everton 0

Everton finally released from their torture, an absolute pumping. Chelsea still a work in progress but plenty to be hopeful of with this young team. Cole Palmer, clearly, is an absolute gem, but when you add in Gallagher, Madueke and a few others, there’s reason for optimsim.

09:54 PM BST

GOAL! Chelsea 6 Everton 0 (Gilchrist 90)

It’s six from Gilchrist, and Chelsea are indeed treating Everton like Adam Gilchrist did the England bowling for most of my young adulthood. A thorough pasting. No question as to the best celebration of the night: Aflie Gilchrist, Chelsea born and bred, who is on as a sub. He is left free in the area and a rebound comes to him, he wallops it home and he and his teammates go WILD.

09:47 PM BST

Penalty noticed

09:41 PM BST

79 mins: Chelsea 5 Everton 0

Cole Palmer, what a night he’s had. Perfect hat-trick. Given a rest now, subbed off to warm applause, as well he should be.

09:38 PM BST

73 mins: Chelsea 5 Everton 0

Noni Madueke off for Carney Chukwuemeka. Madueke looked really useful on occasion.

09:37 PM BST

The Chelsea penalty

It was the Doucoure foul on Palmer that they gave it for.

09:31 PM BST

66 mins: Chelsea 5 Everton 0

Keane goes into the book for a nasty challenge on Jackson.

09:29 PM BST

GOAL! Chelsea 5 Everton 0 (Palmer 64)

Palmer rolls the ball home. Madueke and Jackson are both still kicking off. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Alan Smith.

Chelsea penalty row – AFP Getty

09:26 PM BST

But this is poor from Chelsea!

Madueke seems to want to take the penalty. And now Jackson runs over and tries to grab the ball off Palmer. Palmer shoves Jackson. Dear me. Palmer eventually places the ball on the spot. Pochettino, rightly, has a face like thunder on the touchline. Appalling.

Palmer eventually places the ball on the spot.

09:25 PM BST

61 mins: Chelsea 4 Everton 0

Penalty for Chelsea. And indeed the could probably have had two penalties in the same move. Gomes, Mykolenko and Doucoure combined to block off Palmer as he ran into the box. Doucoure got a nibble of him. And then a second later, Madueke is weaving through the area when is fouled by Tarkowski. Surprised Tarkowski’s not off, actually.

Chelsea penalty

09:22 PM BST

60 mins: Chelsea 4 Everton 0

Raking ball from the Chelsea right into the Everton six-yard box. Another striker might have hurled himself at that, and maybe Jackson would have done if they weren’t 4-0 up. Anyway, he cedes to Pickford who manages to make a save. JP carroms it onto a defender, mind you, which would have made for a very amusing own goal. It dribbles behind for a corner.

09:17 PM BST

54 mins: Chelsea 4 Everton 0

Murdyk still has a lot of work to do but he’s at his best when he runs fast and direct at defenders, which is what he does here. He manages to slide the ball through to Palmer perfectly, and the surprise is not that Palmer hits the target, which he does, but that Pickford saves it, which he does. That looked certain to be four once Palmer showed for the pass.

09:14 PM BST

51 mins: Chelsea 4 Everton 0

Tarkowski does Jackson from behind, if you’ll forgive the indelicate phrasing, and that’s a well deserved booking for the Everton man. It was a cynical and nasty kick with no attempt to win the ball.

09:13 PM BST

46 mins: Chelsea 4 Everton 0

Everton look like they’ve had a bit of a rocket and are putting their backs into it.

09:09 PM BST

Dele

“Everton will find it hard to drop the ego and not go for the win. I know I would feel the same.”

09:09 PM BST

Changes

Harrison in, Gomes in, Patterson in for the visitors.

Coleman, Onana and Garner are allowed to call it a night.

09:08 PM BST

Familiar feeling for Pickford, J

Jordan Pickford reacts after Chelsea’s Cole Palmer scores – Reuters

09:05 PM BST

More on Dele

Dele Alli says he can finally see ‘light at the end of the tunnel’

That’s by Thom Gibbs on tonight’s Monday Night Football guest.

08:56 PM BST

Half time: Chelsea 4 Everton 0

Here’s Cole Palmer lobbing Pickford for his, and the team’s, third.

Cut above: Palmer completes a 29-minute hat-tric – Getty

Sean Dyche presumably warming up for one of the all-time half-time rollockings.

08:51 PM BST

‘A ridiculous half from a hugely exciting player’

Imagine, should you choose, that someone has plotted a diagram, as they surely will, of every Premier League goal scored from the distance of Palmer’s third. The point of view is the side of the pitch, so you can see the trajectory of each shot. I doubt any get anywhere near the height of that outrageous goal.

It was an odd one to watch in person, because the crowd seemed to give up on it moments after it left Palmer’s boot. It looked more likely to end in the upper tier than the net, and probably wide in any case. Guess it may have caught a gust of the surprisingly fierce wind because there was surprise then delight when it bounced a metre over the line to secure Palmer a magnificent hat-trick. A ridiculous half from a hugely exciting player.

He and Chelsea won’t face many more accommodating opponents than Everton, farcical with the ball, careless off it and being given the runaround. Sean Dyche is doing his pieces, as my grandfather used to say. Was never quite sure what that meant, but he’s not happy. You wouldn’t be either with this score and your best player replaced by Beto up front, who has done more harm than good in the first half.

08:50 PM BST

GOAL! Chelsea 4 Everton 0 (Jackson 44)

Performances like this give me hope that my dad’s side, Luton, can stay up after all. Everton are absolutely abject. Chelsea’s Cucurella gets down the left and crosses. Jackson, great bit of skill and control, sure, brings the ball down in the Everton area but he has been given SO MUCH TIME and SPACE to control it, swivel, and fire past Pickford. Tarkowski and Branthwaite should be ashamed of that. It was two on one and he’s just made them look like amateurs.

Nicolas Jackson makes it four – Action Images via Reuters

08:47 PM BST

43 mins: Chelsea 3 Everton 0

VAR check after some argy bargy in the Everton area as Chelsea have a corner. Nothing comes of it.

08:47 PM BST

41 mins: Chelsea 3 Everton 0

Talking of bookings, though, Mykhailo Mudryk clatters Coleman and goes in the book.

08:46 PM BST

40 mins: Chelsea 3 Everton 0

Couple of technical gremlins there, sorry, but worth telling you that Everton have had two booked. They’re getting the run around in that midfield. Young and Garner both in the book, Tarkowski’s been spoken to as well. Young tripped Gallagher. Garner chopped down Palmer from behind.

08:43 PM BST

39 mins: Chelsea 3 Everton 0

Steve Holland in the crowd there, checking that everyone LOVES FOOTBALL.

08:39 PM BST

35 mins: Chelsea 3 Everton 0

Beto has the ball in the net, but this time he’s a mile offside. “He’s got to be a bit more clever than that,” says Alan Smith.

08:34 PM BST

GOAL! Chelsea 3 Everton 0 (Palmer 29)

Jordan Pickford is having an evening to forget. He’s just given the ball away straight to Chelsea and unluckily for him he’s given it to the one Chelsea player you don’t want to give it to: ITMA Cole Palmer. He gets his head up, he spots Pickford miles off the line and he slots it away with the minimum of fuss. It’s three.

Jordan Pickford apologies, and well he should – Getty

08:24 PM BST

GOAL! Chelsea 2 Everton 0 (Palmer 18)

It’s two. Mudryk gets to the byline and cuts it back to Jackson. His effort at goal is palmed out by Pickford, straight into the path of Palmer, who helps himself. Poor bit of goalkeeping from Jordan Pickford you have to say.

Cole Palmer with the second – Reuters

08:19 PM BST

On Palmer

Magic from Palmer, Chelsea’s plan A, B and C, to the total delight of his fans. The nutmeg before the goal was wonderful, the finish sublime, the attempt to flick in Madueke’s pass minutes later… less good.

Chels supporters take the decibel levels up several notches whenever their new favoured son is on the ball, although they had quietened after Beto missed that sitter. Everton’s fans seem remarkably jolly given the multi-pronged crisis enveloping their club. You would hope they have been fuelling appropriately since mid-morning.

There’s a menswear critic on the website formerly known as Twitter named Derek Guy, who Elon Musk’s algorithm has decided I must see every time I log into the website. He talks frequently about the need for a consistent silhouette between top and bottom halves, trousers continuing logically from jackets. He would not approve of Mauricio Pochettino’s get-up tonight, Wengeresque caterpillar coat paired with trousers tighter than those nasty boys who keep ruining the Grand National / Gold Cup / provincial town centres on a Friday night.

08:17 PM BST

15 mins: Chelsea 1 Everton 0

Having just bigged the boy up, Palmer should have his second and looks in something like disbelief that he disnae. Madueke down the flank with an accurate cross, Palmer only has to tap it in but somehow mistimes his run, going too early, and kind of beats the ball to the punch. Any touch would have done the trick.

08:14 PM BST

GOAL! Chelsea 1 Everton 0 (Palmer 13)

Two deeply flawed teams but there is one man who is a cut above, and that’s Cole Palmer. He receives the ball 30 yards out, he NUTMEGS Branthwaite and surges forward. Beats a couple, exchanges passes with Jackson, gets it back and curls the ball past the hapless J Pickford.

Cole is the first Chelsea man to score 20 in a season since Eden Hazard.

Cole Palmer of Chelsea scores his team’s first – Getty Images Europe

08:11 PM BST

10 mins: Chelsea 0 Everton 0

Nice overlap from Everton down the right, the ageless Coleman gets to the byline and crosses hard. Beto! Oh no, he’s ballooned it over. Beto the ballooning buffoon. As Smudge says on the Skys: “it looked easier to score.”

My early impressions is that this game could be anybody’s. Two deeply flawed teams who are willing to have a go.

08:07 PM BST

5 mins: Chelsea 0 Everton 0

Good feet from Madueke, who looks bright and dangerous, and is causing problems. Nearly twinkle-ties his way through the area here, eventually cuts it back but no colleague can apply the coup de grace.

08:04 PM BST

3 mins: Chelsea 0 Everton 0

First moment of Dycheyness as Everton launch a deep freekick into a melee and win a header, but nobody is there to make the most of it.

08:03 PM BST

1 mins: Chelsea 0 Everton 0

Blue on Blue action as Bill Leslie describes it, but Everton are in fact in a disgusting peach-orange strop. Onana clatters Gallagher early on and Cole Palmer wastes the freekick.

07:57 PM BST

Players are out on the pitch

Dele: “Chelsea is a project for the future. Well coached, good young players. I will be watching them.”

07:50 PM BST

Kick off is at 8pm

Who do you fancy?

07:38 PM BST

Dele on Villa

“It would have been much easier not to take the risk and not play at Arsenal. It takes so much character and bravery to play. To me that is a very well coached team. You know Arsenal are going to go at it, so it takes courage to keep passing when you know they are coming at you. It was good to watch.”

07:33 PM BST

Dele Ali-nalysis

07:30 PM BST

Bet now, bet now, bet now

Having a bet on today’s match? First take a look at the offers on these best betting sites.

07:20 PM BST

Nice evening

Stamford Bridge before the Premier League match between Chelsea and Everton – PA

07:19 PM BST

Dele on going out on loan

“It sounds weird but it was harder in some ways playing in League One than first playing in the Premier League. Like you are playing with better players, better pitches. If someone passes it to you then it is straight there to your foot or you get the ball and think a player will be in a certain position and he’s not whereas in the Premier League they are right there. Yhings like that make it harder.

“Sometimes you speak to younger boys at academies and none of them has played men’s football. The academies are amazing, they have got a lot of quality. You speak to them and say where have you been but none of them has played mens football, they want to play on the best pitches. Sometimes I want to say to them it does a lot for your development.

07:09 PM BST

Teams

and

Chelsea: Petrovic, Gusto, Thiago Silva, Chalobah, Cucurella, Caicedo, Gallagher, Madueke, Palmer, Mudryk, Jackson. Subs: Badiashile, Bettinelli, Chukwuemeka, Chilwell, Casadei, Deivid Washington, Gilchrist, George, Dyer.

Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Young, Garner, Onana, McNeil, Doucoure, Beto. Subs: Patterson, Keane, Danjuma, Harrison, Virginia, Andre Gomes, Godfrey, Chermiti, Warrington.

Referee: Paul Tierney (Lancashire)

07:07 PM BST

Dele

“It is only a matter of time [before Everton start scoring]. They have got a lot of quality.”

07:04 PM BST

Sean Dyche

“We had to change our storyline by winning against Burnley. An ugly game but a good win.

“A blow not to have DCL, has a hamstring. Tight call. And Gallen woke up this morning with a tight calf so he misses out.

“The minimum requirement is maximum effort.

“No, I won’t mention the points deduction in the team talk. We have dealt with that.”

07:01 PM BST

Two changes for both managers

Let’s see who.

plays

06:58 PM BST

Team news coming up next

Who will the managers select?

06:55 PM BST

Poch on Sky Sports

“I want to says hello to Dele. What a player. Oh my goodness. I am so happy to see you there.”

“Are we finding consistency? Yes and no. We are dropping too many points, eg Sheffield United. But the feeling is good.”

06:53 PM BST

Dele on Spurs

“During my time at Tottenham, matches with Chelsea became our focus more than Arsenal. We always wanted to beat Chelsea, the dynamic changed.”

06:51 PM BST

Dele on Dyche

06:49 PM BST

Jamie Carragher

“New ownership is much more important than the points deduction.”

06:46 PM BST

Dele

“Players have done an unbelievable job, all we can do as players is not get caught up in everything else. I think they will finish the season strong. They can win most games.”

06:44 PM BST

Dele on managers

“A very good relationship [with Dyche], as good as I could imagine given that I was injured. He has supported me a lot and we have had good conversations.

“Having a conversation with Frank before he joined, he had ideas about how he was going to play. I don’t think he realised how difficult the job was going to be at Everton. He wanted to attack, press, play attacking football. It wasn’t his fault. Very difficult, the club was going through a transition from what I could see around the place. Some players wanted to play and some didn’t. We didn’t really know where to put the full focus. That can cause problems if a manager’s style of play doesn’t match with where the players are.”

06:36 PM BST

A nice package introducing Dele Alli

“I am doing really well. Feeling good, injured which is disappointing but I am doing well. Coming out of rehab (a year ago) has been tough but it is a journey and I am enjoying it.

“When I did that interview (with Gary Neville) I said if it just helps one person. It was amazing how many people it did help.

“I was hoping to play a big part for Everton. I have had to learn what patience is, it has been a long journey with the injury. It is painful to be injured but I can channel that pain and learn from it. Something I have learned a lot from it. It has helped me grow as a person, know myself and grow.

“Hopefully I am getting to the end of the injury. If you had asked me before I would have said injury is one of the worst things. I am hungrier to get back than ever.”

06:33 PM BST

Monday Night Football

incoming. Sean Dyche and the Everton boys arriving but no Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the matchday party as far as one can tell.

06:28 PM BST

Jamie Carragher

says it is a huge game.

06:08 PM BST

Welcome to Chelsea vs Everton

Good evening, hope your Monday has proved tolerable so far and thank you for joining us for our live blog of Chelsea vs Everton. The Frank Lampard Derby. The getting angry about the Premier League financial rules derby. Both sides have had disappointing seasons: Everton are in 16th on 27 points. Sure, they have been docked eight points in total so far, but 35 would only be good enough to move them into 14th so it’s not been much to write home about. Chelsea, in ninth, have little to sing about as well, albeit they do have games in hand.

For both sides, there are probably bigger long and mid term worries than the match result tonight. Chelsea owners sell hotels to another company they own for £75m ‘in attempt to meet PSR rules’ for instance, and there’s also the uneasy sense that maybe the manager and the players are not fully in tune, as per: Mauricio Pochettino tells Chelsea players to toughen up: ‘You need balls to get the ball’. Plenty to be solve there.

Still, you’d rather be Chelsea than Everton, that’s for sure. Everton’s administration fears with 777 takeover placed in doubt – the club owe 160 million in loans that they need to pay back. Uh-oh. And that’s to say nothing of the relegation fight, with some suggestion that there might be yet more points deductions to come. “Everton Football Club has appealed (against) the decision of an independent commission to impose a two-point deduction on the club following its admission of a breach of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules,” a league statement read today.

The mere business of playing a football match seems rather quaint in comparison. But that is what these sides will do at 8pm, and the fixture will be shown on Sky Sports’s Monday Night Football. Dele Alli is a guest on that and it will be interesting to hear what’s going on with him.

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