everton 3-3

Independent :
Drogba double makes point for leaky leaders
Chelsea 3 Everton 3: Everton cash in as Chelsea offer little defence from set-pieces and Cech's nightmare spell continues
By Steve Tongue at Stamford Bridge

Roman Abramovich wanted more entertainment, but this was surely not quite what he had in mind. The blue meanies who went 10 home games without conceding a goal have suddenly become blue Santas, surrendering five in two games at Stamford Bridge and 10 in four overall.
None of those matches have been won, which offered Manchester United the chance to draw level on points at the top of the Premier League last night, only for them to blow the chance against Aston Villa.
The other significant statistic is the number of goals being conceded from set-pieces, which has reached ridiculous proportions: well over 80 per cent in the League this season. Yesterday, Everton's severely depleted side scored from two free-kicks and a throw-in from the five chances they created all afternoon. David Moyes claimed not to have targeted Chelsea in that area, which raised the question of what would have happened if he had. Everton's manager preferred to dwell on the "great resilience and endeavour" that had earned "a great draw", and the outstanding performance of his centre-forward Louis Saha.
Carlo Ancelotti was surprisingly relaxed, claiming his team were unlucky and that he had not lost trust in players he had earlier said were in the last-chance saloon. "I don't think we are in a crisis," he insisted, blaming the set-piece calamities on defenders dropping too deep and hindering Petr Cech – a classic symptom of not trusting a goalkeeper to come and claim the ball.
"We had the same problem against Aston Villa and worked on it and improved, and we must do the same again," Ancelotti said. "We have the same possibility to win the title. It will be a long race."
For those who had been at the Champions' League game against Apoel Nicosia on Tuesday, it was déjà vu all over again. Once more the visitors started unexpectedly well and scored an early goal, only for Chelsea to negate it and then go ahead themselves with only a quarter of the game played. Again, the defending was inadequate to protect the lead; where it took the Cypriot champions until the final knockings to draw level, Everton did so right at the end of an eventful first half, with the substitute Yakubu Aiyegbeni's first touch. The twist was that even after moving in front once more, Chelsea could stay there for no longer than four minutes.
Every time the ball went in the air, they looked likely to concede. Leighton Baines' free-kicks were a particular source of danger, which made it all the more foolish to keep conceding them. After 12 minutes, Saha headed on, the ball bouncing on to a post and then into the net off Cech, who is enduring a horrible run. Ricardo Carvalho burst forward to set up the equaliser within six minutes. He forced the ball to Frank Lampard, whose deft touch allowed Didier Drogba to hammer past Tim Howard.
Six minutes more and it was Everton caught out at a set-piece. Saha, back defending, miskicked at a corner and Branislav Ivanovic found Nicolas Anelka lurking just beyond the far post for a smart chip into the top of the net.
A minute from the interval Everton, already without the suspended Tim Cahill and nearly a dozen others, lost the Brazilian striker Jo, forced off with a hip injury. His replacement, Yakubu, was barely on the pitch when they won a throw deep on the left that Marouane Fellaini flicked on for John Terry to miskick, the ball striking Carvalho and falling to Yakubu's feet for a tap-in.
For the second half there were enough black shirts protecting Everton's goal for a 1930s rally. Yet they were penetrated within quarter of an hour, Ivanovic crossing for Drogba to volley his 18th goal of the season. Within a few minutes there was another shambolic response to a free-kick. John Heitinga hoisted it over and Drogba's header out hit Saha and looped back over the stranded Cech, who berated his team-mate for not giving him sufficient room. It was Everton's only threat of the half, but they smothered Chelsea for the remaining half an hour until Michael Ballack, given an opportunity in added time, drove wide.
Ancelotti had thrown on three substitutes, removing Joe Cole, who was again unable to offer incontrovertible evidence that he should be the man to play in his favoured position just behind the strikers. Drogba and Anelka – 25 goals between them so far – must be wondering how many they need to score to ensure a victory. Others drinking in Ancelotti's last-chance saloon were staggering away from Stamford Bridge with an uncertain gait yesterday evening.
Attendance: 41,579
Referee: Phil Dowd
Man of the match: Drogba
Match rating: 7/10

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Sunday Times
Chelsea feel the heat against EvertonChelsea 3 Everton 3
Nick Townsend at Stamford Bridge
IN FOOTBALL, as in politics, nothing quite concentrates the mind like a diminishing lead. Be it the polls or title leadership, the blue party have recently began to feel the heat.
The pre-match reaction had appeared a little extreme from Chelsea HQ. They still headed their Champions League group, were still Premier League leaders and until Tuesday’s draw against Apoel Nicosia, with a weakened side, they had mustered 12 straight home wins in all competitions. Yet, if Carlo Ancelotti’s rebuke to his men, “this is your last chance”, sounded more like a headmaster admonishing his boys for breaking into the tuck shop than a serious telling-off, there should have been a definite twitching of the metaphorical cane after this performance, which was farcical at times, with some of the country’s finest players incapable of clearing the ball. Chelsea have now failed to win their past four matches and conceded 10 goals.
A period immediately before half-time, with Chelsea looking comfortable at 2-1, only to allow Yakubu, who had just appeared as substitute for the injured Jo and then proceeded to score, reflected the malaise in the home defence.
Ancelotti was sanguine afterwards and denied the situation was reaching crisis proportions. “We deserved to win and I’m happy. Unhappy with the result, but happy with the performance,” said the Chelsea manager. “My players did the maximum, and I haven’t lost trust in my team. I was angry after the match against Nicosia, but not today.”
Everton had not won here in the Premier League since 1994, yet, from the early moments, when the Toffees eased ahead a little fortuitously, there was a sense they could reverse that trend. Goalkeeper Cech, somewhat maligned after his performance at Eastlands last week, denied Jo early on, but after 11 minutes, Leighton Baines’ teasing free kick produced mayhem among the home rearguard, and it was John Terry, leaping with Louis Saha and Marouane Fellaini, who back-headed the ball against a post. Cech merely contrived to touch the ball off his near post into the net.
How would the Londoners react? As potential champions should, one imagined at the time. They duly turned the game round within 11 minutes.
With Ancelotti motioning for a composed reaction to the setback, it was Ricardo Carvalho whose persistence took him deep into the Everton area before passing to Frank Lampard, who set up Didier Drogba to curl a delicious effort past Tim Howard.
Everton didn’t help their own cause in that spell. Within minutes Louis Saha failed to clear a Chelsea attack in his own area, and Branislav Ivanovic pounced, slipping the ball to Nicolas Anelka, who almost nonchantly drilled the ball high into the visitors’ net, with Howard stranded.
David Moyes replaced the injured Jo with Yakubu in a lengthy stoppage time, most of it because of the striker’s earlier injury. But with the hosts evidently contemplating thoughts of a half-time breather, nearly five minutes of added time had elapsed when Fellaini headed on a throw-in. This time Terry was at fault, allowing Baines to prod the ball forward. He struck the prone Carvalho in the process and that allowed Yakubu to beat Cech with ease.
Everton, without the suspended Tim Cahill, had looked, as the interval approached, as though the height of their ambition was to get out of town without a hiding, suddenly realised that there were rewards to be had. But just before the hour, they again failed to clear Lampard’s initial cross, and Ivanovic dinked the ball over for Drogba to volley cleverly past Howard.
Yet again, though, Chelsea were undone at a set-piece. This time, Drogba attempted to head away Johnny Heitinga’s free kick, but succeeded only in clearing the ball into the back of Saha’s head. The ball looped back into an unguarded net with Cech unable to contain his fury.
Chelsea peppered Howard’s goal thereafter, but without real menace, before, in the final seconds Michael Ballack drove wide. It left Moyes claiming: “It was a great draw for us. I would have taken that before the game. Chelsea are in the top two or three in this country and probably the same in Europe. They have very few weaknesses. When we were 2-1 behind, I was really worried how it would end up, but, I tell you what, we showed great resilience and endeavour.”
He added: “We came here today without 10 or 12 players who may all have started in our team, but considering that, we were terrific.” The Everton manager hopes that his injured contingent “will start trickling back in the next three or four weeks.” His counterpart Ancelotti must hope that his team can complete a refresher course on the art of defending.
Star man: Lucas Neill (Everton) Yellow card: Everton: Heitinga Referee: P Dowd Attendance: 41,579
CHELSEA: Cech 5, Ivanovic 6, Carvalho 7 (Belletti 85min), Terry 5, A Cole 7, Mikel 6, Ballack 5 (Borini 88min), J Cole 6 (Malouda 76min), Lampard 6, Anelka 7, Drogba 7
EVERTON: Howard 6, Hibbert 6, Neill 8, Heitinga 6, Baines 7, Pienaar 6, Rodwell 6, Fellaini 6, Bilyaletdinov 6, Saha 7 (Agard 90+4min), Jo 5 (Yakubu 45+3min, 7)

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Telegraph:

Chelsea 3 Everton 3
By Jeremy Wilson at Stamford Bridge

Even the stadium announcer at Stamford Bridge managed to joke about Tiger Woods but, to borrow a golfing phrase, it is Chelsea who are currently suffering an attack of the yips.
After defeats last week against Blackburn and Manchester City, as well as a midweek draw in the Champions League against Apoel Nicosia, Chelsea’s usually reliable defending was undermined by moments of panic, uncertainty and even some internal bickering as Everton scraped their way to an unlikely draw.
Chelsea had gone into the match having conceded just one home league goal in 630 minutes all season. Yesterday, though, their defence was breached three times in 51 minutes as the entire team seemed to suffer a collective nervous breakdown from set-pieces.
Some booing also rang out around Stamford Bridge on the final whistle as Everton ended Chelsea’s perfect home league record. The sight of Petr Cech remonstrating with his team-mates – most notably Didier Drogba – underlined the collective frustration.
“We didn’t win because we made mistakes at set-pieces,” said manager Carlo Ancelotti. “We stayed too close to the goal and Cech was not in a position to catch the ball. We conceded three goals from the same situation and had the same problem against Aston Villa.”
More worrying, a festive curse is again threatening to undermine Chelsea’s season. Last year, of course, they made a similarly promising start under Luiz-Felipe Scolari, yet saw their season unravel with a run of only four wins in 10 league matches prior to the Brazilian’s sacking.
With the African Cup of Nations looming, the extent to which Chelsea are currently reliant upon Didier Drogba, who has now scored 18 goals this season, was again evident. Talk of crisis just now would be an over-reaction, but this is certainly the first real blip of Ancelotti’s reign.
“You can say we are in crisis – I don’t think so,” said Ancelotti, “we have the same possibility to win the title. I don’t lose the trust in my players.”
Recurring questions, however, remain. Chelsea have proved at various stages of the last three seasons that when all fit, focussed and fresh, their best 11 is probably the most powerful and formidable in the country.
Less certain is whether an ageing squad can maintain that level over an entire season, particularly if the team is depleted by injuries as well as the African Cup of Nations.
Chelsea’s African players are due to depart after the game against Fulham on Dec 28 but, even without Drogba, Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou and John-Obi Mikel, Ancelotti remains adamant he will not be buying new players in January. “I would like to say for the last time, we don’t buy anybody – 100 per cent,” he said.
David Moyes had never previously managed Everton to a win against Chelsea but, boosted by the momentum of their unlikely point against Tottenham last week, his team were rewarded for some early adventure.
Frank Lampard had conceded a foul midway inside his own half from which Leighton Baines floated an inviting cross into the penalty area. Not for the first time this season, Chelsea seemed to collectively freeze at a set-piece as Louis Saha’s header cannoned rather fortuitously off the post and into the net via the back of Cech.
The goal, though, seemed to awaken Ancelotti’s team and they responded with a devastating double counter-punch. Ricardo Carvalho skilfully carried the ball out of defence and passed incisively to Lampard, who simply cushioned his pass into the path of Didier Drogba. Without breaking stride, Drogba shot beyond Tim Howard.
Branislav Ivanovic then out-muscled Saha from a Chelsea corner and was able to guide the ball towards Nicolas Anelka, whose finish through a crowded penalty area was both emphatic and precise. It appeared that Chelsea may assume full command but, within seconds of replacing the injured Jo, Yakubu capitalised on further defensive confusion from a set-piece. John Terry had been dispossessed by Baines following a throw-in and the ball then bounced off Carvalho to provide Yakubu with a simple finish.
With Jack Rodwell and Marouane Fellaini providing a muscular presence for Everton in central midfield, Chelsea were struggled to assert their usual physical advantages.
Their superiority, however, was largely evident from open play and they restored their lead in the 59th minute when Drogba converted Branislav Ivanovic’s cross. Yet that lasted only four minutes following more defensive lapses. Cech seemed to hesitate and then Drogba’s attempted clearance bounced off the back of Saha’s head and beyond his own goalkeeper.
Chelsea did pile on the pressure in the closing minutes but, with the exception of an excellent late opportunity for Michael Ballack, they struggled to create clear chances.
“We were without 10 or 12 players who might have been in the first team – I was really worried about how it would end with the team we had out,” said Moyes. “I thought we were immense. It felt like a win and has to be out best result of the season.”

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Observer:
Chelsea held by Everton, despite Didier Drogba's doubleChelsea 3 Drogba 18, Anelka 23, Drogba 59 Everton 3 Cech (og) 12, Yakubu 45, Saha 63
Amy Lawrence at Stamford Bridge

José Mourinho once sneered that matches of this nature produced a "hockey score". The inference was simple. If you want a game with such an absurd see-saw scoreline, with such disrespect for the fine art of stubborn defending, then go and watch another sport.
This was football, but not as Mourinho ever designed it here. The presence of one makeshift back four, and another that was neurotic and error-strewn, made for a contest that was far more open than it should have been. Once upon a time, the classy finishing of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka would have been more than enough to ensure a comfortable three points. But the astonishing vulnerability of Chelsea's rearguard presented Everton with gift after gift. Parking a bus? This was more like a clapped out old Mini Metro in front of the goal.
Since looking so imperious as they crushed Arsenal 3-0 two weeks ago, Carlo Ancelotti's team have now conceded 10 in their last four games, a sequence without a win. Their fear of the set play struck again. On this evidence Chelsea couldn't even catch swine flu in the air.
One of the causes of Chelsea's defensive problems appears to be an inability to win crucial challenges in the penalty area, particularly in the air. The top chalkboard shows the headers they failed to win, including three in key areas inside the box. They won just one aerial duel in their penalty area. The second chalkboard shows the times Chelsea failed to clear the ball both in the air and on the ground. Worryingly, that happened more often than not in their own penalty area. Ancelotti tried to put on a brave face, insisting he was happier with the overall performance than he was last time out against Apoel Nicosia. But he admitted it was back to the drawing board regarding set pieces. "It was the same problem we had at Aston Villa with set plays. We worked the day after and improved. Now we have to do the same."
Even though Chelsea are not in the business of leaking goals at home in the league – the last one came on the opening day of the season – when Everton took an 11th-minute lead the decisive blow was delivered by Chelsea themselves in what was effectively a double own goal.
Leighton Baines's lofted free-kick dipped into the heart of the penalty area, and under pressure from the excellent Louis Saha, John Terry's glancing header bounced off a post, ricocheted off the back of a confused Petr Cech, and fell inside the goal to Everton's great surprise. Bonus time.
Everton unravelled almost immediately. Two goals in a five-minute spell appeared to put Chelsea's universe back in order. First Frank Lampard dinked a pass into the path of Drogba, who curled the ball exquisitely past Tim Howard. Then Branislav Ivanovic found Anelka, and the Frenchman found the perfect angle to poke Chelsea's second through a flurry of fraught defenders.
Saha ensured Everton would not cave in by winning the aerial battle all afternoon. The striker was duly praised by David Moyes, as being "in a class of his own". Saha's sidekick Jô limped off just before the break, but it was a blessing in disguise as his replacement, Yakubu, produced an instinctive finish to equalise in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Chelsea responded with a period of pressing that had Everton pinned back. A goal felt inevitable, and just before the hour mark Drogba pounced again, volleying in Ivanovic's long cross with a thrash of his right boot.
But back came Everton with another freakish goal. Drogba attacked John Heitinga's free-kick but his attempted clearance rebounded off the back of Saha's head and looped over an increasingly bewildered Cech.
Everton held out for a creditable, if slightly extraordinary, point to cherish all the way home. "It was our best result of the season," said Moyes, who for the second consecutive weekend salvaged a difficult circumstances. "In a way both felt like wins. For what we have to play with they are terrific results. I was really worried about the team we had out before the game. We came without 10 or 12 players that might play, and the boys deserve great credit. Immense."
Ancelotti refused to blink regarding the title race. "You can say we are in a crisis but I don't think so. I don't lose the trust in my players and my team."
He confirmed that he does not intend to spend in January, stressing, "we buy nobody, 100 per cent". After what he saw, he could do with his defenders repaying that trust.
THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT
Karen Childs, Observer reader After the goals we have conceded recently, I did wonder how we would cope with Saha and Fellaini... and we didn't. Everton are tough and very resistant and they exploited a weakness down our right, taking advantage of Ivanovic's tendency to push forward. The Cech own goal was a joke. He didn't play well at all and neither did Lampard. Our form is mixed and the injury to Essien has had a big impact. Six or seven weeks is a long time to be out. Even though we dropped two points, I was disgusted with some of our fans, who booed the team at the end.
The fan's player ratings Cech 4; Ivanovic 6, Carvalho 7 (Belletti 85 n/a), Terry 7, A Cole 6; Ballack 6, Mikel 5 (Borini 88 n/a), Lampard 5; J Cole 6 (Malouda 75 6); Anelka 7, Drogba 8
Steve Jones, BlueKipper.com Father Christmas is an Evertonian. What more can I say. We were fearing the worst, with all the injuries we have. Some of the names on the Everton bench we didn't know. Chelsea's back four seem to have become very hesitant and we were throwing in crosses and looking dangerous. Taking the lead with a lucky goal was great, but then Chelsea overran us. But the injury to Jo proved a blessing. Yakubu came on and within two minutes he'd made it 2-2. We deserved to get something and this performance might kick-start our season.
The fan's player ratings Howard 7; Hibbert 7, Neill 8, Heitinga 7, Baines 7; Pienaar 6, Rodwell 6, Fellaini 6, Bilyaletdinov 5; Jô 4 (Yakubu 45 7), Saha 8 (Agard 90)