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Match Report -
Chelsea v Everton – Sunday 11 October 2007
by Carolyn Whitley
I attended this match
along with my dad and 12 year old daughter,
3 generations of Evertonians and we were
treated to another solid Everton
performance.
The match started
after an impeccably observed minutes silence
for Remembrance Sunday. Moyes started with
a 4-5-1 formation with Yakubu again playing
the loan man upfront with Cahill pushing
forward. The first real attempt on goal
fell to Pienaar but just as all the away end
were about to jump up, he somehow failed to
get on to the end of Osman’s cross.
Chelsea started to get
in their stride, Drogba looked strong but he
was being well marshalled by the excellent
Joleon Lescott. Hopefully a watching Steve
McClaren took notice of another solid
performance by Lescott and he will play some
part in England’s forthcoming crucial game
against Croatia.
Chelsea continued to
push forward and their best chances fell to
Lampard and Wright-Phillips. Valente did
well to get in the way of Wright-Phillip’s
shot but the save of the afternoon went to
Howard after he acrobatically pushed away
Lampard’s drive. In first half injury time,
Drogba looked odds on to put the home team
one nil up, but, again like
Pienaar, he completely
missed his shot. He lay on the ground for a
good few seconds to the sounds of the
jeering Evertonians.
Moyes changed things
tactically at the start of the second half.
Off went Neville (who had been booked
previously) and Yakubu. On came man of the
moment Anichebe and McFadden. Everton
instantly looked more lively and had a
better balance to their team.
Howard again was
called into action to stop efforts from
Lampard and Alex. Everton were continuing
to make a game of it but Drogba finally got
his reward and scored from a Kalou corner.
He out jumped Carsley & headed in from close
range - 1- 0 to the home side.
Gravesen came on for
Carsley but ran around like a headless
chicken – he never really got into the
match. Essien did a terrible tackle on
Osman and only received a yellow card from
Wiley (is he Clattenburg in disguise?).
Drogba had another
attempt towards the 90 minutes mark, but
once again Howard – to the chants of ‘USA
USA’- pulled off another save.
2 minutes to go and
McFadden tried a long range effort which
Cahill picked up on, he turned Belletti and
scored with a fabulous scissor kick. The
noise the Evertonians made was incredible
and as ever, Cahill ran straight to the
corner flag and did his infamous boxing
routine.
This was another
strong performance by Everton, who this
season are playing right till the final
whistle and showing a never-give-up
attitude. Not sure which formation Moyes
will use against Sunderland in their next
league match but if we carry on playing as
we have done over the last few games, here’s
to another 3 points and hopefully Arteta
will be back by then as we missed his
general play and excellent crossing.
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