Everton 0 Chelsea 0 – A missed opportunity? How did makeshift defence do? Benefits of Maresca’s structure?

Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Everton on Sunday at Goodison Park.

They struggled to break down Everton during a tense first half on Merseyside. There were very few chances of note for the visitors, as they looked to continue their push towards the top of the Premier League table.

Enzo Maresca’s side did manage to keep Everton at bay courtesy of a few good saves and a great block by Tosin Adarabioyo, allowing them to take a point from Sunday’s match.

The Athletic’s Liam Twomey analyses the game.

Was this a missed opportunity?

If the result of Tottenham–Liverpool broke right, Chelsea could have spent Christmas Day as Premier League leaders for the first time since 2016-17. They have won the title on each of the five occasions they have sat at the top of the table on December 25, a fact that would have made Maresca’s well-rehearsed line, “We are not in the title race” a lot harder to maintain.

Drawing with Everton ensured there was no need to worry about any of that, but was it a missed opportunity?

It is hard to look at it that way, given Chelsea’s particular record at Goodison, the circumstances of this game, and the bigger picture of where they are as a team. Maresca is justified in saying they are not ready to compete to be champions, and going top of the Premier League now may only have served to give a false impression and create inflated expectations.

Colwill reacts after Sunday’s game (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

This is a good Chelsea team, the first since 2021, but there is not yet a credible case to make that it is a great one. Given the average age of this squad and how early we are in Maresca’s tenure, time is certainly on their side.

The only reason they are this close at this stage is that this is not a normal season. Manchester City’s collapse has upturned everything about the established order of things, but Liverpool have looked since the early weeks like the team best equipped to capitalise.

Given their own more modest expectations, Chelsea are perfectly on track — even with a draw at Goodison.

How did Chelsea’s makeshift defence perform?

If you cannot win, do not lose. It is a lesson that all successful teams must internalise and one that Chelsea have been reminded of at numerous times over a troubled two years.

Maresca’s team may have come into this fixture as the Premier League’s form side, but he is smart enough to know that Everton at Goodison is traditionally as big of a trap game as there is for Chelsea. Five defeats in the last seven Premier League visits could easily have become six if a couple of key moments had played out slightly differently on Sunday.

It did not because Chelsea’s defence, manned by a less familiar combination of personnel, worked hard to thoroughly earn only their fourth league clean sheet of the season.

Robert Sanchez, maligned by many and trusted by few at Stamford Bridge, delivered when it counted to deny Orel Mangala and Jack Harrison in a first half of few chances for either side.

Sanchez made some good saves on Sunday (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

When the Chelsea goalkeeper’s parry of Jesper Lindstrom’s low cross fell dangerously short of clearing the danger late in the second, it was Tosin — starting only because of injuries to Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile — who reacted with cat-like agility to throw himself in front of Iliman Ndiaye’s goalbound follow-up shot.

Maresca may privately be frustrated with Chelsea’s inability to make the most of their possession dominance or more incisive attacking moments, but he will surely take pride in their refusal to hand out any gifts at the other end that would have turned one point into nothing.

Did Maresca’s structure help Chelsea at a tough away ground?

Wet and very, very windy: it was not a day for football at Goodison Park. It was a day tailor made for the strategy that Sean Dyche has so often used to great effect against Chelsea.

Defend deep and compact, bristle with physicality in every duel in the air and on the floor, and wait for the conditions — and the cauldron of angry noise that Goodison Park so often creates for this fixture — to create Chelsea errors rather than take risks trying to force them yourself.

Last season, it worked a treat against Mauricio Pochettino’s callow, chaotic young side, who had an unfortunate habit of being bullied by such opponents away from home. Everton ran out 2-0 winners and never looked in danger. The fact that it was not quite the same story this time around is testament to the progress Chelsea have made under Enzo Maresca.

Their more structured shape leaves them less vulnerable to the kind of transition attack that yielded Abdoulaye Doucoure’s opening goal in last season’s corresponding fixture. Everton still had dangerous moments with quick attacks but Chelsea’s control was much more convincing and composed on Sunday.

Dyche and Maresca during Sunday’s game (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Creation is another matter. The fact that every opponent knows Maresca’s desired shape in possession — a three-box-three — means a smart pragmatist with no airs of progressive football like Dyche can create problematic defensive counters to squeeze the likes of Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Jadon Sancho.

Not for the first time, Malo Gusto also looked uncomfortable when asked to function as a No 8 on the ball. Chelsea did create chances to score but they were few and far between, and Maresca’s delay in introducing Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke in the second half suggested a level of satisfaction with his team’s attacking performance that the reality didn’t quite merit.

Chelsea struggled at least as much with the conditions as with the opponent at Goodison, but their frustration here should be a learning experience. Coaches like Dyche may be increasingly a rarity in the Premier League, but more future opponents will attempt this blueprint.