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Ellis Simms scores first Everton goal.
The Graham Potter renaissance was almost onto its fourth straight victory with one minute of the regulation 90 left, when the old frailties that have gripped new Chelsea came back to remind their manager just how far there is left to go.
They had already been obliged to handle one Everton comeback, but a second felt excessive for a Chelsea team that had dominated most of the possession and just about all the chances. The Everton substitute Ellis Simms had been on the pitch for nine minutes when he took his chance with a run at Kalidou Koulibaly and found the £35 million defender very much not his equal.
Simms burst past the Chelsea man, launched a shot at goal, and yet another flappy hand from Kepa Arrizabalaga meant that Everton’s academy boy had secured a priceless point for his side.
Potter will know only too well that these are the kind of games that the old, cussed, Chelsea would grind through: a desperate opponent, a set-piece threat and perhaps just a couple of big moments in the game that needed defending. There were periods when the whole Chelsea ensemble flowed. There were times when it looked like Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix, scorer of Chelsea’s first, might take it to a level at which Everton could not live – but they always just about wrestled it back.
There are so many different kinds of players that Chelsea have acquired in the last nine months yet once again it became a tale of the qualities they lack. They are unable to overwhelm opponents in the way the great Manchester City sides of the last six years have been able to do. And, of course, Potter is still trying to slot all these players into the matchday experience. Having started against Leicester City one week earlier, Mykhailo Mudryk played not a single minute this time.
First a goal from a corner with headers won by, first, James Tarkowski and then Abdoulaye Doucoure to force it over the line. Then an attack that broke down and left Simms with a chance to expose the pace of Koulibaly – a vulnerability that Chelsea had hitherto been able to protect.
Simms, 22, who scored first goal for the club he joined aged 16, is the kind of slow-blooming talent whom Everton have feared might never seize his opportunity. In a squad without an available conventional striker, it says much that Simms started on the bench. Sean Dyche recounted a conversation with the player earlier in the week, about Simms’ scope for improvement.
“He asked me what he can improve on and I said, ‘What do you think?’” Dyche said. “He gave me four things and I said, ‘You’re right’. It’s about taking action. A lot of these players know what they have to do, it’s just taking ownership.”
Simms was the last roll of the dice for Dyche, who had set up a 4-5-1 formation and controlled a shade over 30 per cent of the possession. Nevertheless, his side were still in contention in the closing stages and their third attempt on Chelsea’s goal yielded their second goal.
“We’d all like to play the beautiful game – all of us including me – but you’ve got to find ways of affecting the opposition,” Dyche said. “Of finding ways of scoring goals and creating goals and, of course, defending. That’s what we’re working on.”
There is nothing too complicated, but it works – and on another day of relegation place shuffling, Dyche’s team are up to 15th in the table. A promising turnaround on an evening when Felix, in particular, looked in the early stages like he might be unplayable.
The goal after the break from Felix was not the cleanest hit from this splendidly technical footballer but it was perfectly placed off the inside edge of Jordan Pickford’s left post. After Doucoure’s equaliser Chelsea retook the lead with 15 minutes left when Ben Godfrey and Tarkowski were judged to have fouled Reece James and Kai Havertz buried the penalty.
“I don’t think I had to convince them of anything,” Dyche reflected on the change in his players’ mentality. “They’re not daft. I don’t stare at the league table but they all knew what it looked like. Nowadays you guys tell them. They know every fact and every stat, everything that’s wrong. So, ‘Right, how do we change it?’ I asked them. They fed back to me, and collectively we have to change it.”
This time it fell to Simms to strike the blow. Dyche would not divulge the four areas of improvement that the pair had identified, but he did leave the room with one more thought. “Nobody is going to do it for you,” he said. “Make our own history. People who make history don’t wait for it to happen.”
Chelsea vs Everton: Summary
KEY MOMENTS
Full time (2-2)
Everton pick up a valuable point
GOAL: Youngsters Simms scores unlikely equaliser
GOAL: Havertz scores penalty after Everton switch off
GOAL: Doucoure strikes from a set-piece to level
GOAL: Felix's performance was rewarded with opening goal.
The hero of the hour Ellis Simms on his goal
It's about patience, I just had to wait for my chance. We've got top players so I'm not going to walk straight into the team, I have to work hard and take my chance when I get it.
It's massive belief, we're working hard in training, staying united and sticking together when it gets tough. We went behind today but fought back to get the equaliser.
Sean Dyche speaks after the match
We all planned it like that, it keeps our heart rate low!
I'm really pleased with our mentality. There have been a lot of questions over the last few seasons about our away form and mentality but it is growing. We were decent at Forest but made a mistake.
They are still a decent outfit, even if they had an up and down time, coming in of three wins.
A really good point for Everton
Everton are up to 15th and matched the results of Southampton and Leicester today but picking up a rare result on the road.
They welcome Spurs to Goodison next which ordinarily would be a tough fixture, but I'm not sure Spurs will be feeling buoyant about the prospect of playing there on a Monday night under the lights.
FT: Chelsea 2 Everton 2
A pink shirt gets there first, and the referee blows his whistle!
It's a sloppy showing from Chelsea having led twice, but Everton are rewarded for sticking at it and a solid general performance.
If it was not for a self-destructive moment to give away the penalty for Chelsea's penalty they could have won it.
94 minutes: Chelsea 2 Everton 2
Chelsea tried to chop the free-kick back towards the edge of the box but it would not drop for Havertz to shoot.
Then James chips a cross to the back stick, where Havertz's header deflects behind for a corner that should never have been given. It came off Havertz!
Nervous times for Everton, and they have another corner to defend after glancing the ball behind.
93 minutes: Chelsea 2 Everton 2
Chelsea seeing all of the ball and territory now. Fernandez tries to lift a ball into Havertz but Everton head away.
Chelsea sustain the attack, and James' skill wins him a free-kick from McNeil. This is in a really dangerous position wide right.
FIVE minutes of added time
Will Everton hang on? They have a corner to defend with 90 seconds of stoppage time being passed.
GOAL! Ellis Simms has scored his first goal for Everton.
And what a time to get it. Mc Neil kicked a ball forward, it was a neat lay-off from Doucoure, and the young striker Simms brushed aside Koulibaly with ease. He opened his body up and his side-footed shot crept in underneath Kepa. It was lovely from the forward but the goalkeeper should have done better.
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