Full time: Everton 0-3 Chelsea
And that’s it. Chelsea are seven points ahead of Spurs, who have to negotiate the north London derby shortly. Chelsea have also won what appeared to be the toughest remaining fixture. To see how Spurs get on, join Daniel Harris here:
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90 min +2: Barkley fouls Cahill - Chelsea don’t complain.
90 min +1: Chelsea are still coming forward, although an aimless pass forward does nothing to trouble Everton. A few seconds later Jagielka has to be quick to stop another goal from Willian.
90 min: Three minutes of added time.
89 min: Everton have a few minutes to score three goals and keep the title race interesting. They will not score three goals.
GOAL! Everton 0-3 Chelsea (Willian 87)
Willian scores with his first touch (don’t hold me to that, let’s call it his first significant touch). It comes after a pass from Fabregas cuts out the Everton defence and Willian just has to touch the ball past Stekelenburg.
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85 min: Hazard come off for Willian.
84 min: Davies continues to dash around the pitch but Everton have done very little since Pedro’s goal.
81 min: This was Chelsea’s toughest remaining fixture and it appears like they will come away with a victory. It’s hard to see them throwing away the title now. Luiz is down again - he really should have come off earlier, it looked like Conte told him to stay in earlier. Anyway, Luiz is now off along with Pedro. Fabregas and Ake are on.
GOAL! Everton 0-2 Chelsea (Cahill 78)
Now a free-kick for Chelsea after a badly-timed tackle from Gana, who is booked. Hazard swings the ball in and it gets lost among a forest of legs, before Cahill pokes the ball home from a yard or so out.
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77 min: It’s Lukaku who takes the free-kick. He takes a languid waft at the ball - he slips a little perhaps - and the shot does not trouble Courtois.
76 min: Everton (and Spurs, in spirit) have a free-kick on the edge of the area. Hazard is booked for the hack on Barkley that led to it. Baines and Lukaku have a chat about who will take the kick.
75 min: Chelsea are down to 10 men while Luiz gets treatment ... and he’s back on.
72 min: Luiz is down, it looks like it may be a groin injury.
71 min: Matic collects the ball in the same area he scored that goal in the FA Cup semi-final. This time he can’t control the ball though. A double substitution for Everton as they chase the game: Valencia and Calvert-Lewin are off for Mirallas and Kone.
68 min: Chelsea will have a seven-point lead if they win this game and Spurs will have to win against their fiercest rivals this afternoon. On a positive note, we have all seen their fiercest rivals’ defence.
GOAL! Everton 0-1 Chelsea (Pedro 65)
If that goal decides the championship it will be a worthy winner. Pedro drifts past Jagielka around 25 yards out and pelts the ball into the top-right hand corner. Stekelenburg had no chance.
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63 min: Matic looks like he’s about to deliver an excellent cross but trips over his own legs.
61 min: Lukaku darts across the area and finds himself in a little space. But he doesn’t make good contact with the ball as he shoots and Courtois saves easily enough.
60 min: Not to get ahead of myself (warning: I’m about to) but even if Chelsea lose today, I still think they’ll win the league. I just don’t see them slipping up twice – and Spurs have a tough run-in. Apologies to all Chelsea fans for tempting fate (Spurs fans can thank me later).
58 min: Now Valencia has been booked - the fourth yellow card of the day, but I wouldn’t say it’s been a particularly nasty game. Hard fought but not vicious.
56 min: A yellow card for the mild-mannered Costa after he introduces Stekelenburg to his studs. That’s his 10th of the season.
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54 min: Davies gallops up the field but loses control and Courtois comes out to gather the ball. He’s been Everton’s best player today (Davies that is, Courtois has done nothing for Everton).
52 min: Gana slides in to intercept a through ball and concedes the corner. Oooof - and it nearly leads to a goal. Matic backheels the ball to Moses, whose cross shot flies across goal and is inches away from being poked home by Costa. That was very well planned ... and almost very well executed.
49 min: Barkley has been quiet so far, an attempted through ball plops harmlessly to Courtois. “Re: Weston Steelhammer (half-time emails) I’m reliably informed he’s also a character in World of Warcraft,” says Peter Doyle. “A busy lad obviously.” Weston went undrafted yesterday, by the way. Still, he’s in the AIr Force and I think Weston Steelhammer is an excellent name for a fighter pilot. Talking of NFL draft names:
There's some serious competition for the best name in the NFL draft pic.twitter.com/DPvr7EQVGI
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 24, 2017
46 min: And we’re back. Just a reminder that if the scores stay the same, the title race could be down to two points by the end of the day. But there’s still a long way to go. “Can we have more Tom Davies please?” asks Matt Loten. “I don’t know where Everton were hiding him, but the lad is far too composed on the ball for an 18-year-old. It seems like we’ve been saying Barkley is ‘learning his trade’ for half a decade know, but Davies has been a regular for less than six months and looks like he’s already got it mastered.” Agreed, he’s been great so far - they may as well just change the name on his shirt to Future Everton Captain. Until he actually comes captain, then he can have Heart And Soul Of The Club.
Half-time email: “Since when did everyone start calling Idrissa Gueye ‘Gana’?,” asks Woolie Madden. “I know it’s his middle name but I could have sworn he was always referred to as ‘Gueye’ on teamsheets and the like until about six months ago? Maybe I’m wrong, but it does feel like we’re only an indulgence or two away from allowing Premier League footballers to have ‘Wozza’, ‘Bazza’ and ‘Big Rob H’ plastered over the backs of their shirts.’ If only Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey was still playing, now there was a man with a middle name. As an aside, I was watching the NFL draft coverage yesterday and this zinger of a name came up.
Half-time: Everton 0-0 Chelsea
Chelsea corner as time ticks down: Matic’s flicked headed goes across goal as 21 players decide whether they want to do anything about it. And that brings an end to a very entertaining first-half. Both teams were willing to attack - the only thing that was missing was the finishing.
44 min: Davies is putting in some excellent, old school sliding tackles today. Although some of them are a few inches off being old school ankle breakers. But for now we will commend his passion.
42 min: Valencia picks up on a bad backpass and his cross just misses an on-rushing (is that a word?) Lukaku.
39 min: Calvert-Lewin looks a little groggy after a challenge but is OK to continue. Azpilicueta is then booked after tripping Valencia. Everton’s free-kick is 35-yards out. Maybe 34.2. Barkley’s free-kick is headed out by Luiz though.
36 min: Everton have a free-kick around 40 yards out after that Cahill handball. And it is Cahill who makes amends with a headed clearance. Matic then clatters Davies, possibly as payback for the youngster’s challenge on Costa earlier. Matic clearly feels a bit bad about this a few seconds later and checks Davies is OK. Which he is, the little scamp.
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34 min: The furious pace of the opening stages has died a little - Lukaku has a good chance but handled the ball on the way through anyway. Cahill is booked for a deliberate handball of his own.
31 min: Gana does a fine rugby tackle on Hazard to deny a try-scoring chance. Jon Moss sees nothing wrong with this in a football game and waves play on.
28 min: Man City are 0-0 with Boro in the first half. You can keep up to date with today’s other games here.
26 min: Costa heads the ball and spins round as the ball drops to his feet. He only has Stekelenburg and a pristine net in front of him but thwacks the ball over the bar. I think he was a little surprised that no one got to his initial header. Chelsea should be at least 1-0 up.
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23 min: Matic obviously got a taste for this goalscoring business in the FA Cup the other day. He starts his run at the centre-circle and lumbers past half of the opposition before skimming a shot at goal. At the other end, Lukaku has a decent shot from outside the area that flies just past the post.
21 min: A lovely ball from Pedro - a chip over the Everton defence - finds Hazard who volleys across goal but there’s no one there to follow up. Chelsea definitely the better side at the moment.
19 min: Alonso attempts to emulate Hagi at USA ‘94 but only emulates Alonso at Goodison ‘17, which involves him shanking his cross-shot over the bar.
16 min: Davies puts a crunching - but fair – tackle on Costa. Costa, who knows a thing or two about physical play, is limping but he’s OK to continue.
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14 min: Stekelenburg has looked a little shaky in the early stages. He failed to gather that Cahill shot in the opening minutes and was very hasty coming out to block (or rather, fail to block) Hazard.
12 min: Stekelenburg rushes to stop Hazard and fails miserably, the Belgian has an open goal to aim at – albeit it at a tough angle – but his shot goes into the side netting. A man in the crowd tells Hazard exactly what he thinks of him. It does not look polite.
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9 min: Everton are keen to attack early on, as are Chelsea. Which means this game will end up 0-0.
7 min: Corner to Chelsea after Williams beats Costa to a cross. Everton kind of clear without ever really clearing it but eventually Barkley runs free - his through ball to Lukaku is more of a dead-end ball.
4 min: It was a great block from Cahill to deny Lukaku a goal in that previous chance. The defender then trots up the pitch to force a save from Stekelenburg. They should put Cahill in the PFA team of the season or something. It’s been a very lively start.
1 min: And we’re off. Everton in their famous blue and Chelsea in their less famous black. The home team have a wee foray down the left to start us off ... and nearly score. Calvert-Lewin cuts inside and his shot hits the post. Lukaku almost prods the rebound home.
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The teams are out on the pitch. With Everton’s brilliant home form, Spurs will have identified this match as one of the games where Chelsea will most likely slip up if they are to lose the title race.
Interesting choice in goal for Chelsea today:
Petr Cech starts for Chelsea today at Goodison Park - according to the below tweet at least... #CFC #EFC pic.twitter.com/br7OUafRrr
— Vaishali Bhardwaj (@VaiBhardwaj) April 30, 2017
Having said that, I’m not one to talk as I was responsible for this beauty a few years ago.
Updated
The big news for Everton is that Morgan Schneiderlin has been ruled out due to a thigh injury. On a more positive note for their fans, they have won their last two games at Goodison against Chelsea – Leighton Baines also makes his 350th start for the club. He’d be the ultimate one-club man if he hadn’t played for Wigan for five years.
Troubling news for Everton as it emerges their entire starting XI have become trapped to their knees in a deep blue gunk covering the pitch. Should make it difficult to counterattack:
⚽️ | Today's #EFC team to face @ChelseaFC... #EFCmatchday pic.twitter.com/GL76ftZ4D9
— Everton (@Everton) April 30, 2017
Team news
Everton: Stekelenburg, Holgate, Jagielka, Ashley Williams, Baines, Gana, Davies, Valencia, Barkley, Calvert-Lewin, Lukaku. Subs: Robles, Kone, Mirallas, Barry, Lookman, Pennington, Kenny.
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill, Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso, Pedro, Hazard, Costa. Subs: Begovic, Fabregas, Zouma, Ake, Willian, Batshuayi, Chalobah.
Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire)
Tom will be here soon.
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