March 21, (THEWILL) — A brace from Beto and a fine finish from Iliman Ndiaye gave Everton a commanding 3-0 victory over Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, leaving Liam Rosenior’s side in danger of missing out on European football.
Beto had come close to breaking the deadlock inside the first 10 minutes after Robert Sanchez gave the ball away cheaply, and the Guinea-Bissau forward duly rewarded his side’s pressure in the 33rd minute, meeting a precise through-ball from James Garner and lobbing the Chelsea goalkeeper to open the scoring.
Jordan Pickford kept Everton’s lead intact with two outstanding stops from Enzo Fernandez, first clawing a close-range volley over the crossbar before the interval, then diving to his left to turn a curling effort around the post after the restart.
The second goal owed much to Sanchez’s continued struggles between the posts.
Fed by Idrissa Gueye, Beto struck directly at the goalkeeper in the 62nd minute, only for the ball to pass through Sanchez’s legs and roll over the line.
Estevao rattled the crossbar from a corner, but Chelsea could find no way through.
Everton settled the contest in the 76th minute when Beto’s flick-on released Ndiaye, who drove into the penalty area and bent a finish into the top-right corner.
The result lifted Everton to seventh in the English Premier League table, just two points adrift of the visitors.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
