Everton turn up heat on Rosenior as Beto double and Ndiaye sink Chelsea

It was left to Everton to impose the only serious sporting sanction of the week on Chelsea.

Treated with extreme leniency by the Premier League for cheating over a seven-year period, the Stamford Bridge club were left battered and bruised, and Liam Rosenior in a whole world of trouble, as Hill Dickinson Stadium witnessed the finest act of its eight-month existence.

For Everton this was a script to savour.

The backing for Moyes’s side was as intense as their performance.

The team coach was welcomed by a huge crowd as it snaked its way into the stadium while the atmosphere inside had a touch of Goodison Park about it, loud and edgy.

Anger was a key ingredient.

The announcement that Chelsea had been fined £10.75m and banned from signing academy players for nine months, having engaged in “deception and concealment” under Roman Abramovich’s ownership, sparked incredulity at Everton.

The Merseyside club were hit with two separate points deductions for breaching profitability and sustainability rules in 2023/24.

Chelsea’s punishment for making illicit payments totalling £47.5m to sign players paled in comparison.

There is “the need to preserve public confidence in the fairness of the competition,” says the Premier League in the written reasons for Chelsea’s sanction.

That ship has sailed in these parts.

The Premier League anthem was roundly booed before kick-off and there were chants and banners questioning the integrity of the league from the Everton support.

Moyes’s players fed off the indignation that surrounded them.

Everton were sharper and stronger throughout.

An error-strewn opening by Chelsea contributed to the hosts’ superiority.

Robert Sánchez was almost embarrassed by Beto when dithering in possession.

The beleaguered Chelsea goalkeeper just managed to flick the loose ball to Moisés Caicedo before the striker could convert.

Another loose pass by Pedro Neto led to the game’s first real opening for James Garner – “head and shoulders the best player on the pitch,” according to his manager – and Malo Gusto blocked the midfielder’s shot.

Chelsea were just showing signs of a response when Everton ignited the arena by making the breakthrough.

Garner, deservedly called into the England squad for the first time on Friday, was the architect of a beautiful goal when threading an inch-perfect pass through the heart of the Chelsea defence.

Beto, ghosting in behind Wesley Fofana, reached the invitation before Sánchez and dinked a fine finish over the goalkeeper.

Rosenior introduced Alejandro Garnacho for Gusto at half-time, Caicedo switching to right back, but there was no let-up in Everton’s intensity nor improvement from the visitors.

The second goal encapsulated the difference in hunger and quality between the teams.

Idrissa Gueye beat two Chelsea players, Marc Cucurella and Fernández, to the substitute Andrey Santos’s pass and surged 40 yards towards goal.

He found Beto inside the area, who swept a powerful shot straight at Sánchez yet it somehow squirmed through the keeper and trickled over the line.

• Everton have won consecutive Premier League games at the Hill Dickinson stadium for the first time.

• Chelsea have lost three of their last four Premier League games (W1), as many defeats as in their previous 18 matches in the competition (W8 D7 L3).

• Beto (pictured carrying Iliman Ndiaye) became the fourth player to score two or more goals in a Premier League game at Hill Dickinson Stadium, while he is the first to do so for Everton.

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“That was our best performance here, absolutely,” said Moyes.

“From the first minute we were right on it.

It was a big game and the crowd made it feel like a big game, so a big thank you to the supporters for the part they played tonight.”