Chelsea 1, Everton 1- post match analysis

Nov 12 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

EVERTON are discovering that the thing about habits – they can be very hard to break.

Thankfully for David Moyes, the traits his players are beginning to form are helping transform his team into a genuine Premier League force.

Yet another late goal, this time from the talismanic Tim Cahill, earned a richly-deserved point at Chelsea, the 1,000th top-flight draw in the club’s history.

For long periods, it appeared as though it would be a bridge too far for the Goodison Park outfit following their UEFA Cup exertions in Nurnberg on Thursday night.

But a clutch of heroic defensive performances and a trademark determination gave Everton the foundation to dig in and claim another notable result on their travels.

Yesterday’s fixture was the last in a season-defining sequence of seven games in 23 days, a spell from which Moyes’s side have emerged in a much stronger position.

A Carling Cup quarter-final at West Ham United awaits next month, the European campaign will almost certainly be extended into the New Year and the top six is now again within touching distance.

That a run of five successive victories has been halted couldn’t disguise the delight that greeted Cahill’s spectacular 90th-minute overhead kick.

The goal was the first Chelsea had conceded in the Premier League in 540 minutes. But despite his goal-scoring contribution, the Australian had to for once concede the spotlight to some sterling displays from his team-mates. With the injured John Terry in the stands, the stage was left for another England defender to produce a commanding performance at Stamford Bridge.

Joleon Lescott has continued to attract plaudits for his displays at Goodison Park this season, the standard of which have deservedly broken the Everton man into the England international set-up.

Last season’s debut season was often spent at left-back, but yesterday Lescott was outstanding in his preferred central role up against the considerable might of Drogba, setting the standard for a fine defensive performance in which Joseph Yobo also excelled.

Even when Chelsea did find a way through, Tim Howard demonstrated why, with his clean sheet in Nurnberg in midweek, he became the first goalkeeper in Everton’s history to play his first 50 games and concede fewer than a goal a game.

The United States international made a string of important saves, one in particular from Frank Lampard that will live long in the memory.

It was galling, then, that a stoic backline should be breached by such a simple set-piece goal, Drogba capitalising on some slack marking from a corner to nod home in the 70th minute.

Matters may have been different had Chelsea’s Michael Essien been dismissed mere minutes before the winner following a poor over-the-top tackle on Leon Osman in front of the dug-out.

Moyes and the Everton bench rose in anger at the challenge, the sickening snap from which was thankfully the sound of Essien’s studs on Osman’s shinpad rather than anything more serious.

Yet that fury intensified when referee Alan Wiley subsequently brandished a yellow and not a red card to the Ghanaian midfielder.

Everton’s point was all the more distinguished given Mikel Arteta had joined Andrew Johnson and Leighton Baines on the sidelines after sustaining a groin strain against Nurnberg on Thursday evening.

The Spaniard’s absence meant Moyes was forced into one change from the team that won in Germany, Tony Hibbert returning at right-back for his 150th Premier League appearance with Phil Neville pushed into a five-man midfield.