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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tom Victor

Graham Potter points unexpected finger of blame after Chelsea held by Everton

Chelsea manager Graham Potter blamed his team's attack as much as the defence after his team conceded a late equaliser to drop points against Everton.

The Blues had won three games on the spin before the visit of Sean Dyche's strugglers. Joao Felix broke the deadlock with his first Stamford Bridge goal, and Kai Havertz put the hosts back in front from the penalty spot after Abdoulaye Doucoure had briefly brought Everton level.

As the two teams entered the final moments of the game, it looked as though the points would be staying in west London. However, substitute Ellis Simms - who made his Premier League debut in a draw against Chelsea last season - levelled things up with his first-ever goal in the competition.

"I thought the performance overall was positive," Potter told Sky Sports. "We did a lot of things really well, scored a couple of goals but ultimately didn't defend well enough in a couple of actions, which has cost us, and we're disappointed to drop points.

"I think as a team, we could have attacked better in the first place. It's what we spoke about before the game, in terms of how to attack well so that you don't expose yourself to transition, and we did that.

"And then it looked too easy throughout the team, so that's disappointing from our perspective - the second goal, and the first as well. Credit to Everton, they do that well, but we need to do better there.

What went wrong for Chelsea? Have your say in the comments section.

Ellis Simms stunned Chelsea with a late Everton equaliser (Getty Images)

"I thought we did a lot of positive things, we attacked well - I thought Joao, Kai, CP [Christian Pulisic] combined well, we used the width with Reece [James] and Chilly [Ben Chilwell]. It was a positive performance from us overall but it's hard to say that when you've only got one point."

Chelsea stayed 10th after the point, ahead of Aston Villa on goal difference despite Unai Emery's side beating Bournemouth earlier in the day. The Blues return to action after the international break against Villa.

After that come a pair of games which could influence matters at both ends of the table, with Champions League -chasing Liverpool and relegation-threatened Wolves on the horizon. Then comes European action, with the first leg of a tough quarter-final against a Real Madrid side who dumped Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea out of last season's Champions League.

"The feeling is excitement," Potter said after Friday's draw. "I’ve said we will try to win the Champions League and that’s the same for the other seven clubs in the draw I’m sure."

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