Football - Premier League Costa scores twice in sensational nine-goal thriller as Chelsea hammer Everton Premier League, Goodison Park Everton 3 (Mirallas 45, Naismith 69, Eto’o 76) Chelsea 6 (Costa 1, 90, Ivanovic 3, Coleman o.g. 66, Matic 74, Ramires 78) Diego Costa scored in the first and last minute as Chelsea destroyed Everton 6-3 at Goodison Park. Costa had been expected to begin the match on the bench after Jose Mourinho had claimed he was not close to full fitness earlier in the week, but opened the scoring from Cesc Fabregas’ assist. Two minutes later, a fractionally offside Branislav Ivanovic made it two. Everton then pulled a goal back just before half-time when Kevin Mirallas converted Seamus Coleman’s cross, with Eden Hazard again failing to offer defensive cover. The second half exploded into life after the 66th minute as four goals were scored in 12 minutes. Chelsea somehow kept a hold of the lead, with Costa’s 90th minute goal making for a ridiculous final scoreline. Chelsea are now joint top of the league after winning their first three games of the season. With Manchester City losing at home to Stoke City it appears that they have the first, however slight, advantage in the chase for the title. KEY EVENTS 1’ - COSTA SCORES - Fabregas picks out the Brazilian’s angled run, with Leighton Baines playing the striker onside, and he slides a shot past Tim Howard’s poor attempt at a save. 3’ - IVANOVIC SCORES - Ramires scoops the ball to Costa, who returns the pass. Ramires sends the ball right to Ivanovic, who is just offside, and he drags the ball past Howard. 8’ - HOWARD ESCAPE - Fabregas curls a brilliant ball for Costa to chase, and Howard comes to the very edge of his box to claim, however he is slightly out of his box when he eventually reaches it. He is lucky not to be sent off, and the referee allows play to continue. 16’ - DISALLOWED GOAL - Sylvain Distin pokes in from a yard out after Romelu Lukaku hits the bar from a corner, but he received the ball in an offside position. 17’ - NAISMITH SHOT - Kevin Naismith sends a long-range shot just wide of the post. 30’ - FABREGAS CHANCE - Fabregas sends a shot to Howard’s right, but it bounces off Sylvain Distin’s leg and goes just wide in the opposite direction. 45’ - MIRALLAS SCORES - Coleman clips in a free kick from the right, and Mirallas gets ahead of every defender to glance a header past Thibaut Courtois. 53’ - HOWARD SAVE - Costa runs onto yet another through ball, tries to curl it past Howard, but he sticks out a leg to pull off a great save. 66’ - COLEMAN OWN GOAL - Hazard has the ball on the left, apparently happy to waste time, but suddenly drives past two players towards the byline, sends a cross back towards his own players, and Coleman’s lunge puts the ball past Howard. 69’ - NAISMITH SCORES - Aiden McGeady cuts inside from the right, slides the ball to meet Naismith’s run, and the striker pokes the ball past Courtois. 74 MATIC SCORES - Matic receives the ball on the edge of the box, slams a shot towards goal that flicks off Distins studs and into the corner. 76’ - ETO’O SCORES - Samuel Eto’o pulls one back with an accurate header from just inside the area from Leighton Baines’ cross. 78’ - RAMIRES SCORES - Exchanging a one-two with Matic to get inside the box, Ramires puts Chelsea two ahead when he toes a shot past Howard. 81’ - COURTOIS SAVE - Courtois pulls off a wonderful save, tipping Kevin Mirallas’ volley onto the post. 90’- COSTA SCORES - John Obi Mikel robs a loose pass from Muhamed Besic, strides forward and sends a back heel left for Costa. His stepover puts Distin on the floor, and he then fires into the corner. KEY STATS Diego Costa is the second Chelsea striker to score in each of his first three Premier League games. The last was Adrian Mutu. Jose Mourinho has never lost a game to Everton in his career. Cesc Fabregas has five assists for Chelsea in three games. Steven Naismith has scored in three consecutive Premier League matches, and this is his third goal in four games against Chelsea. MATCHCAST: FULL MATCH STATS AND COMMENTARY TALKING POINT Diego Costa is good enough to be the difference for Chelsea this season. In the last three matches he has provided movement across the front of the pitch, opening up space for those around him, and also scoring in each match. Fernando Torres might have worked just as hard, but he contributed almost nothing compared to Costa. MAN OF THE MATCH Diego Costa (Chelsea): Scorer of two goals, and also the player who started at least two arguments on the pitch, first with Coleman and then Howard. With Fabregas similarly niggly, the two will combine well in unsettling and scoring against teams. PLAYER RATINGS Everton: Howard 6, Baines 5, Distin 5, Jagielka 4, Coleman 6, Barry 5, McCarthy 4, McGeady 5, Naismith 6, Mirallas 5, Lukaku 5. Subs: Besic 5, Etoo 7. Chelsea: Courtois 6, Azpilicueta 5, Terry 5, Cahill 5, Ivanovic 6, Matic 6, Fabregas 7, Ramires 7, Willian 6, Hazard 7, Costa 8. Subs: Luis 6, Drogba 6, Mikel 7. MATCH IN A TWEET Eurosport - 08/30/14 - 07:24 PM Matchcast: Everton v Chelsea 11 comments Your Comment 11. bluechicago keep it going . keep the focus . one by one and never losing concentration 0 minutes ago 10. piero6 unstoppable Chelsea this is just the beginning. 0 minutes ago 9. kemar ricketts nice win my team 19 minutes ago 8. mk_kargbo What a dramatically played by chelsea,a warning to all those call big guns in the EPL. 37 minutes ago 7. martyns77 so finally Chelsea fans has come to recognise fabregas as a top player. 47 minutes ago See all comments
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 20:40:14 +0000
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